RECOMMENDED
Survivors of an era when elegance meant ornate displays of opulence, old theaters are reminders that bourgeois taste once spurned the appearance of efficiency for blatant excess. Bart Harris and Debra Paulson are drawn to the venerable palladia of Chicagoland that have escaped the wrecker’s ball, shooting photographs of their interiors and exteriors, and providing intriguing wall texts that detail their checkered histories and the valiant civic efforts to save and restore them. The high point of the show is Paulson’s series on the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, with its extravagant lobby ceiling and ticket booth fit for royalty. The absurd and wacky juxtaposition of old and new that often goes along with anachronisms that remain in use is evinced in Paulson’s shot of the marquee under the Rialto’s imposing columned facade that announces a performance by Don Rickles and Joan Rivers sponsored by Miller Lite. (Michael Weinstein) Through November 11 at Apollo Theater
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