Chicago Theatre

Big Bang, the "unofficial" inaugural production of the new Downstairs theatre at the Chicago Theatre has closed its run early due to the inability to find a Chicago audience for the show.

The production, which was slated to run until August 20, had its last show on Sunday, July 23. This was the first production in the new basement space that has previously housed such things as Siskel and Ebert movie screenings, broadcasts by WIBO radio and an ice-cream parlor. The owners of the treasured Chicago Theatre had recently turned this basement space into a new 281- seat venue for "off-Loop theater in the Loop." 

The goal of the theatre was to attract the tourist crowd in search of a "lite evening" with somewhat lighter ticket prices than the large Broadway show venues nearby. This was the same goal that the now defunct Noble Fool Theatre, which was located just a block away, had in its plan as well.

Next up for the Chicago Theatre Downstairs space will be Shear Madness which is slated to open September 18. Shear Madness is a show that is not a stranger to Chicago.  It ran for 17 years from 1982 to 1999 in the old Blackstone Theatre so may have a little more staying power than that of the Big Bang.