'Jersey Boys' can't light up in Chicago

CHICAGO, July 8 (UPI) -- A complaint from a theatergoer sparked a smoking ban that means the cast of the Chicago production of "Jersey Boys" can't light up on stage.

The musical, which is also running on Broadway and in London, is about how several New Jersey guys became the iconic pop group the Four Seasons.

The Chicago Sun-Times said the cast is no longer allowed to smoke during the show, which is set primarily in the 1950s and 1960s, after a complaint from an irate theatergoer led to enforcement of the city's smoking ban during the live performance.

"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," the newspaper quoted Alderman Bernard Stone as saying.

Former Alderman Burton F. Natarus said before he left office he fought to allow smoking during live performances.

"The Cancer Society and all of the non-smoking people prevailed," Natarus said. "It's too bad. People are being unrealistic. If they're smoking in a play, I don't think that's gonna cause anybody to die of cancer."

A spokesman for the Public Health Department said the division doesn't "proactively go to theatrical productions to see if anyone is smoking on stage" and doesn't have any record of a complaint about "Jersey Boys."