Jersey Boys Banned From Lighting Up The Chicago, Illinois production of hit musical Jersey Boys has been slapped with a smoking ban - following a complaint from an irate theatre-goer.
9 July 2008 12:13 PM, PDT
The play, which focuses on the rise to fame of 1960s pop group the Four Seasons, sees several characters light up on stage throughout the story.
But now the state's Public Health Department has cracked down on actors smoking on stage - and banned the production from featuring cigarettes.
Bosses behind the show have reacted angrily to the order, insisting it is detrimental to the reality of the play.
Bernard Stone, a member of Chicago's city council, was also disappointed by the news.
He says, "When you take it out of the production, you're changing history. If you want to be true to the times, you'll allow them to smoke on stage. To do otherwise is like blue laws in the Puritan times. That's what life was like then. You're denying those times existed."
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
