Finally the Credit We Deserve

After all the hubbub of Chicago being named the US's theater capital or some other crazy schemes... and after the ongoing fight about the identity of Chicago theater verses the profits of the Broadway tours... Chris Jones has written some lovely words that not only get to the heart of what Chicago theater is but how to make it sustainable. And the even better part is his article is foreshadowing funding and potential funding from Mayor Dailey and the City of Chicago.

Given the ongoing fiscal crisis in the City of Chicago — not to mention the State of Illinois — I think it is unlikely that we will soon see any more of the massive investments that created the downtown theater district or the new Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. They are politically difficult, to say the least. That’s bad news for advocates of the Uptown Theatre, a must-do restoration that will surely take many millions of some kind of public dollars for it to come to fruition. But it is good news for those whose needs are much more modest. The Daley administration will surely see that it can continue its much-lauded stance on investment in the arts by turning to the neighborhoods, where the tab is not so high.

Happy Birthday:
Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960)