Ken Waissman

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Ken Waissman
Born
Kenneth Jay Waissman

(1940-01-24) January 24, 1940 (age 83)
Baltimore, MD
Occupation theatre producer

Kenneth Waissman (born January 1940) [1] is an American theatre producer.

Contents

Waissman's first Broadway credit was the 1971 Paul Zindel play And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little with Estelle Parsons and Julie Harris. The following year, while he and partner Maxine Fox were in Chicago, they attended Grease, a popular local play about high school life in the 1950s being performed at the Kingston Mines Theater in the Old Town section of the city. [2] [1] The two thought it would work better as a musical and encouraged its writers, Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, to relocate to New York City and embellish it with a score. The result was Grease , which Waissman and Fox mounted off-Broadway before transferring it uptown. It garnered him his first Tony nomination. He was nominated again for Over Here! ; the third time proved to be the charm when he won not only a Tony but a Drama Desk Award as well for Torch Song Trilogy .[ citation needed ]

Other Broadway credits

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References

  1. 1 2 Rousuck, J. Wynn (November 24, 1997). "A new musical from the 'Grease' guy Theater: Baltimore-born Kenneth Waissman took a show to Broadway 25 years ago, and tonight he ushers 'Street Corner Symphony' into the limelight". The Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2018. Waissman, 57
  2. ↑ Cox, Gordon (May 10, 2016). "Producer Kenneth Waissman Greasing Broadway Wheels for 'Josephine' Musical". Variety . Retrieved December 3, 2018.
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