Another point on the nanny state of Chicago: the local production of “Jersey Boys” is not allowed to smoke cigarettes on stage.

Last year, the City Council’s Buildings Committee voted 4-to-2 not to exempt actors from the smoking ban–not even when smoking is an “integral part of the theatrical performance.” At the time, Health Committee Chairman Ed Smith (28th) advised producers to modify the lines of the their plays to strike references to smoking and smoke-filled rooms.

To paraphrase Glenn Reynolds, “they told me that when Bush was reelected, government officials would be editing the content of theater productions!”