OFFBEAT: Key Players Gathering Tonight for Candlelight Dinner Playhouse Reunion

One of my great stage regrets is that I never had a chance to step inside the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse just off Harlem and Archer avenues in Summit, Ill. prior to it closing in 1997.

I had just started at The Hammond Times newspaper in 1995 and was just beginning to write about entertainment and theater in Chicago at the time of Candlelight's final curtain, which was a performance run of "Cabaret."

Heralded in the theater history books as "America's First Dinner Theater," it opened July 7, 1961 in what was originally a tavern space owned by Bill Altier, whose college grad grandson Bill Pullinsi was eager to open a unique dinner space.

As for how the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse can be considered the "first dinner theater in America" even though the Drury Lane stage spaces were already in operation?

I'm told it's because at the Candlelight, the patrons actually watched the performance from the dining table seating where they also enjoyed their dinner service.

In 1973, Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis launched the same concept.

The few actual rows of theater-type seats from the Candlelight, which was on Chicago's South Side near my aunt and uncle's house, are now way up on Chicago's North Side in The Theatre Building on Belmont.

There's sure to be plenty of stories, photos and memories shared tonight at a gala reunion held for those who worked at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. The dinner and cocktail gathering is being hosted at the European Chalet, 5445 S. Harlem, just two blocks from the site of the original theater.

Candlelight founders Pullinsi and Anthony D'Angelo are attending and will share their personal stories.

Candlelight Dinner Playhouse operated for more than 38 years presenting more than 150 award-winning musicals and was widely credited for helping to establish Chicago as a theater destination, both creating audiences trends and hiring top tier Chicago talent.

Memorable productions include the long runs of "Fiddler on the Roof," "Man of La Mancha," and Maury Yeston's "Phantom."

Newer work and more cutting edge productions were also presented at the venue, including "Follies," "The Human Comedy," "Nine," "Song and Dance" and "Five Guys Named Moe." 

The 560-seat theater had a reputation for housing high quality productions, and Pullinsi and D'Angelo often spent lavishly to acquire the best for their productions, purchasing the original Broadway set for shows like "Company" and the original William Ivey Long Broadway costumes for "Nine."

The adjacent 423-seat Forum Theatre was built in 1972 to present thought provoking plays including "The National Health" and "Boss," based on the book about Mayor Richard J. Daley by newspaper columnist Mike Royko.

Producer Libby Adler Mages went on to produce the massive hit "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?" at the Forum Theatre, which ran for more than four years.

The theater closed in 1997.

A large percentage of employees worked at the theater ten years or more, and the venue was widely considered a "family operation with a family-like atmosphere."

Though it prided itself for not using "headliner" stars from TV and Hollywood films brought in from New York City or Los Angeles to anchor show runs, ironically, the venue helped launch the careers of future stars like Shelley Long and Mandy Patinkin.

But mostly, Candlelight was the launching pad for long career stage favorites, many still entertaining audiences today, such as the late Lee Pelty, Dale Benson, Hollis Resnik, John Reeger and Paula Scrofano.

Candlelight's former Public Relations Director, Noreen Heron Zautcke, organized this reunion event.

(Candlelight was torn down in 1998 to make room for a now-vacant Krispy Kreme donut shop.)

One of my favorite stories of Noreen's is how she -- along with her pal Eileen LaCario, now vice president of Broadway in Chicago who previously did marketing for Candlelight Playhouse -- dressed up as nuns and handled out fliers at a local shopping mall to promote a performance of the show "Nunsense."

Eileen is married to Candlelight co-founder Tony D'Angelo.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or (219) 852-4327.