Harris Theater for Music and Dance — Attraction in Chicago

Recently we attended a benefit here with some good friends. The theme was orchestrations with American-Italian themes centered around piano. The Chicago Philharmonic was also conducted by an Italian conductor.

My friend was a little upset with the first piece played because there was no piano. He loves piano! I told him don't worry, as I pointed to a giant piano siting in the wings. Sure enough 3 guys in black rolled out the piano for the second piece. This was a big production to get the piano out on the stage.

Then a lady from Highland Park came out in her evening gown to bang on the keys. It was a very spirited piece of music.

What always cracks me up is what happens after every piece is finished and we've all seen this if you've attended a classical orchestra show. The song finishes, crowd applauds, conductor points out important players, possibly shake hands, conductor leaves stage for 3 seconds, returns to conduct next piece. I just always find this humorous. I know the conductor is suppose to be collecting his thoughts off stage but only 3 seconds. I say milk it and wait like 5 minutes until the audience breaks out the lighters. Then surprise them and do a costume change too. Use that time wisely conductor man. I am only kidding but I figured I would offer some creative fun. Hey it's all a show so live it.

I also must point out that drinks are expensive here. I think it may be cheaper to drink at a baseball game. In fact, at intermission they had a person walking around selling mini wine bottles. They need to teach this person on how to sell. She should have been yelling, "Get your VINO here!" or "There's a 20 minute liquor line in the lobby!" I'm thinking I may need to re-train the sales staff on the floor.

Yeah the line at the bar was really that long...so lady selling wine from a bag was a faster option. The fastest option was to purchase "intermission drinks" at the bar before the show even started. Then simply arrive at the bar during intermission and your drinks were ready and you didn't have to wait in a long line. Who knew drinking at a classical concert was this complicated!

The theater is beautiful. The front of the theater and box office is located off Randolph street. If you are sitting on the main floor you will have to make your way all the way down to the bottom using an elevator or stairs. You are basically heading down to the lower Columbus street level. This layout is unique because typically the main door isn't at the top of the theater.

I also once had the opportunity to explore back stage. I was very fortunate to be offering support statewide for the premiere of Kevin Smith's movie "Red State" which premiered in Chicago at the Harris Theater. It's fun to feel like a rockstar for the day with an All Access Pass. I was amazed at the ability of the theater to do digital projection in here.

Now if I was comparing these two events. Kevin Smith's movie premiere was sold out but the philharmonic had plenty of seats open. Kevin would probably say, "F*ING RIGHT!" I guess the reason I point this out is because it shows the versatility of this theater to host both classical art and modern art. It shows that no matter what age you are you can always enjoy a night at the theater.

So if your looking for a night of culture then checkout what is happening at the Harris Theater. You may be surprise at what...

The theater itself is very nice - it's basically built into the ground so when you enter off of Randolph, you are entering at the top of the balcony section. It's a great setup to have good sight-lines for everyone and still have a building that doesn't impose on the park. It's adjacent to the Millennium Parking Garage so getting to and from the theater is easy.

The layout of the theater is fairly typical with steeper seating the further you get from the stage. However, aisles are wider so getting around is easier. Given that one of our group has a wheelchair, it was nice that in laying out the theater there's disabled seating (both wheelchair and transfer types) throughout each seating price-point and not just in the back of the theater as is often typical. The Harris also gives (at least for the performance we attended) a slight price break for the disabled and companion seats. It was a nice nod to the fact that some people have no choice but bring a helper along.

While the show we saw was very good and the seating in a nice area, the staff was what stands out in my mind. Everyone we interacted with knew their job, was helpful, and proactive. From e-mailing the Accessibility Services Department to leaving the theater after the performance made it seem like they dealt with extra needs every day - nothing brought a, "let me check on that."

As an example, when we first arrived at the Harris, we talked with a staff member we needed to go for our tickets. She pointed us to the elevator to go down to Level 1. When we were getting off the elevator, another staff member was there and I heard her say, "I have them." They made things easy and that our situation was normal. We don't get to feel like that a lot.

At the end of the day, the Harris Theater is a great place to see a performance. It's easy to see the stage, it's easy to get around the theater, and the people there are extremely helpful. You'll have a...

This was my first visit to the Harris Theatre and, I must say, I was a bit underwhelmed. Not at all with the performance, mind you. That was stellar and spectacular! But the layout of the place is completely confusing. From the nearby parking garage, you have to go up in an elevator to get to the street level main lobby. Then to get to the performance space, you have to go down again in another elevator. The theater is actually subterranean, as I understand the City Of Chicago didn't want it to be too obtrusive to the landscape. (?) The lobbies had all the "charm and comfort" of a subway station, with fluorescent lights, white walls and bare naked gray concrete floors. The theater itself, if you like steps upon steps going down, down, down, and again more gray, gray, gray industrialized subway design engulfing you, this is the place for you. After the performance, it was like climbing up a mountain with all the steps to get back to the "lobby." And we weren't the only patrons confused with elevators going up and down every which way to get back to the parking garage. Like I said, I enjoyed the performance immensely. But if I see another event I might like to attend at the Harris Theatre again in the future, I will just have to think twice about it. A totally...