Oriental Theatre (Chicago)
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- For other places with the same name, see Oriental Theatre.
The Oriental Theatre is located in Chicago, Illinois on Randolph Street. It opened in the 1920's as a movie palace. By the 1970's, the theatre was showing exploitation films. It was renovated and restored in the 1990's and now is host to Broadway shows. The theatre's full name is The Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, however to locals it is usually referred to as the Oriental Theatre. Currently, the musical Wicked is playing an open-ended, sit-down production here since June of 2005. The theatre re-opened in 1999 with the Chicago premiere of the musical Ragtime.
The Oriental Theatre is a beautiful theatre with its Eastern decor of the Orient. It has many different animals, fauna, and human faces carved in the beautiful house.
The theatre is located in Chicago's revitalized Loop Theatre District. The district is home to the Cadillac Palace Theatre, LaSalle Bank Theatre (formerly The Shubert Theatre), the Goodman Theatre, and the famous Chicago Theatre. Randolph Street was traditionally the center of downtown Chicago's entertainment district until the 1960's when the area began to decline. The now demolished United Artists Theatre, Woods Theatre, and Roosevelt Theatre were located on or near Randolph Street.
The Oriental Theatre is referenced at the beginning of the 1958 film Auntie Mame.
