CIBC Theatre
Chicago, IL
Venue Info
Built:
1906
Venue Status:
Still open
Seating Capacity:
1800
Location Info
22 W. Monroe StreetChicago, IL Find on Google
Other Names
- PrivateBank Theatre (2/9/2016)
- Bank of America Theatre (2008)
- LaSalle Bank Theatre (2006)
- Shubert Theatre (1945; short name)
- Sam Shubert Theatre (1945; full name)
- Sam S. Shubert Theatre (1945; full name)
- Majestic Theatre (1906)
Trivia & History
Built in 1906 as a vaudeville house, the theatre became part of the Orpheum Circuit in the 1920s. The theatre closed in 1932 because of vaudeville's decline and the Great Depression. In 1945, it was purchased by the Shubert Organization and remodeled and renamed the Sam Shubert Theatre. It was sold to the Nederlander Organization in 1991 (although the land was owned by the Chicago Public Schools until the Nederlanders bought it in 1997). Broadway in Chicago acquired the building in 2000. Starting in January 2005, the theatre began a $40M restoration. It re-opened in May 2006 as the LaSalle Bank Theatre. At that time, the 4th - 21st floor of the building housing the theatre were converted to a hotel. In 2008, the theatre became the Bank of America Theatre as LaSalle Bank was acquired by Bank of America.
The first theatre built in Chicago since the Iroquois Theatre fire. Fittingly, the Majestic was praised for its fire safety.
The auditorium has two prosceniums. It was designed this way to keep the audience racially segregated. The second proscenium prevents the audience on the orchestra level from seeing the audience above them.
The theatre was renamed the PrivateBank Theatre on February 9, 2016.
