Nederlander Theatre (Chicago)
The James M. Nederlander Theatre is a theater located at 24 West Randolph Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. Previously known as the Oriental Theatre, it opened in 1926 as a deluxe movie palace and vaudeville venue. Today the Nederlander presents live Broadway theater and is operated by Broadway In Chicago, currently seating 2,253.
This article is about the theater in Chicago. For theate in New York, see Nederlander Theatre.Former names
− The Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre
− Oriental Theatre
24 West Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois
Theatre
2,253
1926
1996 – 1998
24 W Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois
September 26, 1978
The multi-story theater-house was constructed within what was the New Masonic office building and both the skyscraper and theater were listed in 1978 on the National Register of Historic Places as, New Masonic Building and Oriental Theater. The office building part is now a hotel. In 2019, the theater was re-named for theater impresario James M. Nederlander, of the Nederlander Organization.
History[edit]
The Masonic Building originally served as a combined temple for multiple Masonic lodges.[2] The Oriental Theater opened in 1926 as one of many ornate movie palaces built in Chicago during the 1920s by the firm Rapp and Rapp. In addition to movies, it occasionally showed live acts. The Oriental continued to be a vital part of Chicago's theater district into the 1960s, but patronage declined in the 1970s. Late in the decade, the theater survived by showing exploitation films. It closed in 1971, the last film shown at the theatre being the action film The Female Bunch,[3] and its lobby was refitted as a retail TV and radio store, while the theater remained vacant for more than a decade.[4]
The Oriental had replaced an earlier theater venue on the site, which opened November 23, 1903 — the Iroquois Theatre, site of the Iroquois Theatre fire, the deadliest theatre fire and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history. After the fire's recorded death toll reached at least 600 fatalities, over double the death toll of The Great Chicago Fire, city officials closed all theaters in the city for inspection. Following the incident, the city enacted new laws that addressed aisleway and exit standards, scenery fireproofing, and occupancy limits.[5]
The Oriental-Ford Center for the Arts reopened as a live theater venue in the 1990s and was renamed the Nederlander Theatre in 2019.[6] The theater is one of several houses now operating in Chicago's revitalized Loop Theater District. According to Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune, the reopening of the Oriental spurred the restoration of other theaters in The Loop.[7] The district is also home to the Cadillac Palace Theatre, CIBC Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, and the Chicago Theatre. Randolph Street was traditionally the center of downtown Chicago's entertainment district until the 1970s when the area began to decline. The now–demolished United Artists Theatre, Woods Theatre, Garrick Theater (originally constructed as the Schiller Theater and Building), State-Lake Theatre, Erlanger and Roosevelt Theatre were located near the intersection of Randolph and State Streets.
On November 13, 2018, Broadway In Chicago announced that the theater would be renamed to honor James M. Nederlander, founder of Broadway In Chicago, Broadway theater owner and producer, and champion of Chicago’s Downtown Theater District, who died in 2016. The venue unveiled its newly renovated marquee, vertical blade sign and signage as the James M. Nederlander Theatre on February 8, 2019.[8]