Broadway Marquees Will Not Be Dimmed for Late Comedy Icon & Tony Nominee Joan Rivers

Broadway theaters will not dim their lights to pay tribute to Tony nominee Joan Rivers. Rivers, a comedy icon and longtime friend to the Broadway community, died on September 4 at the age of 81 following surgery complications. According to The New York Times, the Broadway League has concluded that she did not meet the criteria for the traditional honor from the Great White Way.

Rivers appeared on the Great White Way in Fun City, Broadway Bound and Sally Marr...and her escorts, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She was reportedly in talks to reprise her performance in Sally Marr, which she wrote alongside Erin Sanders and Lonny Price. In 1959, she starred on stage in the off-Broadway play Driftwood opposite a relatively unknown Barbra Streisand. Of late, she was most known for her work as co-host on E!’s Fashion Police and the WE TV reality series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?.

“Under our criteria,” Broadway League executive director Charlotte St. Martin told the newspaper, “People need to have been very active recently in the theater, or else be synonymous with Broadway.” She added, “We love Joan…but she hasn’t acted on Broadway in 20 years. When you say Joan Rivers, you don’t think comedy, television and Broadway. You think comedy and television.”

Lights have, however, been dimmed for performers who are not necessarily known for their stage careers: of recent note, the late Robin Williams. He made his Broadway acting debut in 2011 in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and led the stand-up special Robin Williams: Live on Broadway in 2002. Williams was not Tony-nominated for either performance.