Day 301: Before the Rainbow-Theatre Week Day 1

Author's Note: Chicago has a thriving Theatrical scene, and with the return of the musical Wicked to Chicago this Wednesday, what better time to take a look at a few of our Theatre gems.

     In 1926, the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp was hired to erect a new Theater in the place of the ill-fated Iroquois Theatre.  This was realized when the 3,250 seat theater opened up later that same year, operated by a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures.  Once the theater was up and running, it served as a movie house(as did the other classic theaters of the time) as well as a performance venue for all sorts of artists, ranging from vaudeville stars to critically acclaimed singers.  A few of the more well-known stars who graced the stage of the Oriental include:

• Duke Ellington
• Frank Sinatra
• The Marx Brothers
• Bing Crosby
• Al Jolson
• Bob Hope
• Danny Kaye
• The Three Stooges
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Plus many others

     One of those many others was a 12 year old girl named Frances Gumm who performed there with her sisters in October of 1934.  Upon being introduced as the Gumm Sisters, they were laughed off of the stage.  Upon the suggestion of the famed Master of Ceremonies George Jessel, the sisters changed their surname.  Frances changed her given name as well, and reemerged onto the Hollywood scene as a 17 year old named Judy Garland.  After the Golden age of vaudeville theatre, the venue began to serve as a movie house, a role which it continued to dutifully fulfill through the 1960s.  By the time the 70s hit, the whole Loop District was in a state of decline, and the Theatre was reduced to showing exploitation films.  Finally, the venue closed down in 1981.

     The theater would sit dark for the next 15 years until January of 1996, when the Canadian company Livent pledged to restore the Theatre.  However, things hit a snag when Livent started going under the next year.  The restoration project was picked up by SFX Entertainment, who completed the restoration and reopened the theater on October 18, 1998.  Thanks to the contribution of $1 Million by the Ford Motor Company, the venue was officially known as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, although everyone knows it as the Oriental Theatre.

     The first show to grace its stage was the musical Ragtime, but there was an even more monumental show in store for the Oriental.  On April 29, 2005, the award-winning musical Wicked came to the Oriental on a national tour.  When the tour was up in June, the show just stayed in Chicago, establishing a residency at the Oriental for another 3 and a half years.  By the time the show finally closed on January 25, 2009, it had ran for 1,500 performances, becoming the most-performed show in Chicago theatre history.  However, Wicked isn't done with the Oriental Theatre.  On October 30(i.e. Wednesday), the show is coming back for an 8-week engagement, showing once more that the Oriental is still going strong at the ripe old age of 87 years old.