CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

In Toronto-vs-Chicago theatre war, tax credits are the new ammo

The Globe and Mail: A new front has opened in the long-standing battle between Toronto and Chicago for the title of North America’s second theatre city: tax credits.While the subject matter would make for a mind-numbing musical, an act passed by the Illinois Legislature quietly over the holidays has essentially launched the opening shot in a war over War Horse, the West End megahit that Toronto is about to become the third city in the world to stage. Or it might be called the first punch in the Thrilla for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, the colourful drag-queen musical that entertained Torontonians before it became a hot, Tony-winning ticket on Broadway.

1 comment:

Wyatt said...

I am intrigued by how much money these tax breaks are giving out and the fact that Chicago and Toronto are fighting over shows. I realise that they bring in a lot of money but I feel like there could be other ways to incentivize shows to come to your state. I feel the city that can fill seats with the most residents would more likely get the show, assuming that it costs about the same to put on a production in Toronto as it does in Chicago. Is the number of people that fly in to a city so big that it would out weigh the native theater goers in that city? The article sort of made it seem like that backed out what they where saying about Louisiana.