'Jersey Boys' snuffs out smoking after patron complains to city

The Chicago production of "Jersey Boys" has excised all smoking from the show so that the production complies with Chicago's indoor smoking ban, a spokesman for Broadway in Chicago confirmed Tuesday.

The city's ban does not offer any exemption for smoking as part of a theatrical performance.

It also does not allow herbal cigarettes to substitute for tobacco, as has been common practice in the theater.

The city sent a "notice of complaint" to Broadway in Chicago after a complaint by a patron about smoking in "Jersey Boys," said Tim Hadac, spokesman for the Department of Public Health.

Broadway in Chicago president Lou Raizin said it had taken "about a week" to revise scenes involving smoking.

As originally staged at the LaSalle Bank Theatre (now the Bank of America Theatre), the show about a '60s singing group had made extensive use of smoking, including a scene where some characters smoke marijuana.

Seven scenes have been changed.

cjones5@tribune.com

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