Chicago’s Theater Industry
Volume Three in the Quest for World Class Series
New York was described as “the place” but Chicago was known as “the turn.” All of the various peripatetic stage entertainments, burlesque, variety, musical, dramas, went through Chicago. Chicago’s impresarios took standard entertainment formats and made them bigger.
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Chicago was where the traditional British Christmas Pantomime became the American musical extravaganza.
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Chicago is where Harrigan met Hart and one of the paths to the modern American book musical was opened.
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Chicago is where Gilbert and Sullivan were first successfully transformed into the American comic opera and another path to the modern American book musical was opened.
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Chicago is where the clog dancer became the tap dancer.
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Chicago is where the little theater movement was born.
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Chicago is where the first endowed professional theater company was launched and where the first endowed professional theater company failed.
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Chicago is where the structure of the major Vaudeville circuit companies was successfully established for nearly three decades.
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Chicago is where an impresario helped launch the “blood and thunder” melodrama genre.
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Chicago is where the pit orchestra became the Big Band
Chicago’s downtown theater Rialto was second only to New York in size but was far more diverse in entertainment varieties. By 1930 not a single major commercial theater was locally controlled and by the 1980’s the Loop was virtually vacant of any entertainment of any type. Read Volume Three, Chicago’s Theater Industry, to understand why. For the print version in softback go to Amazon for Kindles and order it in print,
Chicago’s Theater Industry is also available in digital form at:
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