Fame or Famine

From the same city that banned foie gras recently (and then suddenly repealed it) comes the news that even in theatrical productions where cigarettes and other smoking is an “integral part” of the play – it’s not allowed.

That’s right. Jersey Boys, currently playing in Chicago, had portrayed the doo-wop singers accurately – that is, singing on the street corners with cigarettes hanging out of the their mouths. But since Chicago has a city-wide smoking ban, an “irate theatre goer” complained to…well, to someone, but no one seems to know who, or where the complaint originated. However, the play has removed the butts from the production (ifs & ands seem to be safe, for the moment).

Think of the Stagehands!

…or something like that. The city aldermen aren’t saying that an actor lighting up a butt on stage is going to actually give anyone cancer (kind of reminds me of when I was juggling torches and I’d reassure the audience that it was ok, I was using stage flame). But still, Health Committee Chairman Ed Smith says, “”We would be duplicitous if we say it’s alright to allow people to smoke on stage. … It’s an adversity to people who come to see those plays and the stagehands.”

As for those plays where lighting up really is written into the script, his advice is that they “modify the lines of the their plays to strike references to smoking and smoke-filled rooms.” Yeah, just change those lines. And by the way, it’s rather bad to show killing, and high heels kill your back, and do you realize what ballet does to your knees? It’s an adversity!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be improving. Alderman Bernard Stone, one of a couple who tried to get an exemption from the city-wide ban on smoking for theatres, said “”When you take it out of the production, you’re changing history. If you want to be true to the times, you’ll allow them to smoke on stage. To do otherwise is like blue laws in the Puritan times.” But apparently everyone else on the council was afraid to sign for smoking…and so, the Jersey Boys, and the rest of the plays, will have to leave their lighters at home.

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