Falls’s Future: When Is a Sabbatical Not a Sabbatical?
What is Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls doing next season? Here is a time line of one columnist’s attempt to answer that question:
The theater’s $750,000 production of John Logan’s Riverview: A Melodrama With Music, directed by Falls, opened on June 22. Reporters at the opening believed an official announcement regarding Falls’s plans for next year was imminent. The next day, sharply worded pans of Riverview appeared in both the Tribune and Sun-Times. Later, when asked about a formal announcement of Falls’s plans, spokeswoman Bandle said a press release about the theater’s next season was being prepared but would not be released for several days.
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Now at the Chicago Theatre: For a Few Dollars More
The Chicago Theatre has introduced a controversial new twist at its box office. Customers who trek there to purchase tickets, as some might do to avoid an exorbitant Ticketmaster service charge, are now being charged an equally exorbitant $3 per ticket over the counter. At least one local producer claims to have pulled a booking from the venue rather than subject customers to the surcharge. The policy was put into effect by Chicago Theatre Restoration Associates, the investor consortium headed by Marshall Holleb and Margery al Chalabi that continues to operate the theater while the city decides how the $13 million federal loan used to buy and renovate it will be paid off.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Steven D. Arazmus.
