Xanadu Billboard Creates Stir, Gets Yanked

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 28, 2009 6:30PM

Vanity Fair really liked the new music Xanadu, currently showing at Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. A new billboard in East Lakeview for the musical had a quote from VF proclaiming the musical was, "like taking ecstasy." Problem is, that billboard was at Melrose and Broadway, right across the street from Nettelhorst Elementary School. And it didn't take long for complaints to start rolling in.

Teacher Dale Ray and Nettelhorst principal Cindy Wulbert both contacted the office of Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) early in the week to complain about the billboard. Wulbert said, "We have no problems with the show, and we love performance-based art. We didn't think it was appropriate for a billboard across the street from a school to mention a drug named ecstasy, possibly putting that drug in a positive light." Several other parents complained about the pro-drug message and by mid-afternoon yesterday, the sign had been taken down.

Clear Channel Outdoor owns the space where the ad went up but hasn't commented on the situation. Broadway in Chicago, who puts on the show, said in a written statement: "The quote on the billboard is a direct quote from Vanity Fair magazine, which the producers of 'Xanadu' loved and wanted to include in advertising. We currently have an outside vendor who purchases our billboard space throughout the Chicagoland area, and the producers of the show requested that general area." [Trib, S-T]