Coordinates: 41°51′10.24″N 87°36′56.24″W / 41.8528444°N 87.6156222°W / 41.8528444; -87.6156222 The Arie Crown Theater was named after Lithuanian immigrant Arie Crown, who was the father of Henry Crown, the American industrialist and philanthropist. The theater is situated on Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. It opened in 1960, with seating for 5,000 people, one of the largest seating capacities in Chicago. The theater is part of the McCormick Place convention facility, owned by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
The theatre was damaged by a fire in 1967 and was closed until 1971. After re-opening a year later for Mahalia Jackson's funeral, the Arie Crown Theater has had nearly four decades presenting classical and rock music, also musicals.
In more recent years, the acoustics have been improved by changing the proportions of the auditorium and staging area and this has reduced the seating capacity to 4,250 people.
Famous quotes containing the words crown and/or theater:
“The sight of one of these frontier houses, built of these great logs, whose inhabitants have unflinchingly maintained their ground many summers and winters in the wilderness, reminds me of famous forts, like Ticonderoga or Crown Point, which have sustained memorable sieges.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“screenwriter
Tony Pastor, the pioneer of vaudeville, played the theater in 1876.... He had been preceded by P.T. Barnum, and an occasional performer such as Professor Simmons, “Great, Weird, Wondrous, and Invincibly Incomprehensible ... Basiliconthamaturgist.””
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)