 | |
| Address | 5 Willowdale Drive Frederick, Maryland 21702 United States |
|---|---|
| Owner | Kiska Corporate Enterprises Bill Kiska, Executive Producer & CEO Justin M. Kiska, President & Managing Director Deb Kiska, Chief Financial Officer |
| Type | Dinner theater |
| Opened | 1990 |
| Website | |
| http://www.wayoffbroadway.com/ | |
The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, also known as Way Off Broadway or WOB, is a regional dinner theater and children's theater located in Frederick, Maryland, United States.
The theater was first launched in 1990 as the Keynote Dinner Theatre under the direction of Don Wiswell with a production of the musical Grease . It was not until 1995, when the theater was purchased by the partnership of Pete Peterson, Terrance Warfield, and Jim Watkins, that it was renamed Way Off Broadway. [1] The following year, Way Off Broadway's Children's Theatre was created, opening with an original production of Sleeping Beauty. It was also in 1996, a year and a half after they bought the theater, that Peterson, Warfield, and Watkins sold WOB to Susan Thornton, the creator of the Children's Theatre. Way Off Broadway was purchased by the Kiska family in 2002, beginning their ownership of the theater with a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum . [2] The Kiskas remain the theater's current owners.
Each season, Way Off Broadway produces five Broadway-style mainstage productions. [3] These range from the classics by Rodgers and Hammerstein and Kender and Ebb, to contemporary and current stage shows by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Yazbek. Way Off Broadway has been credited with bringing many theatrical premieres to the area. In 2009, WOB was one of the first theaters in the country to obtain the rights to produce a regional theater production of the musical comedy The Wedding Singer. [4] Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl - The Musical , La Cage aux Folles , [5] Thoroughly Modern Millie , Mel Brooks’ The Producers , All Shook Up , and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels all made their western Maryland regional theater debuts at WOB.
From 1996 - 2017, Way Off Broadway produced a full children's theatre season each year, presents four productions geared for young audiences and their families. These were originally musical adaptations of popular fairy tales and children's stories written specifically for the theater. [6] Most notably was WOB's 2005 world premiere stage production of Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree , based on the 1963 children's book of the same name by Robert Barry. Until that time, Jim Henson’s Muppets had been the only group to obtain the rights to adapt Barry’s story, turning it into a television Christmas special in 1995. [7] In an interview, Barry later said he preferred Way Off Broadway’s adaptation, which had been written by Susan Thornton, the children’s theatre’s director, over the Muppets version. [8]
In 2011, The Children’s Theatre at Way Off Broadway began to change its productions line-up to include stage versions of popular children’s books and movies –- many of which came directly from the Disney Vault. These new blockbusters were shows like Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland; two incredibly successful runs of Pinkalicious – The Musical; Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer Live! Dora’s Pirate Adventure; a premiere production of Molly Shannon’s Tilly the Trickster; and the area's first production of Junie B. Jones - The Musical. [9]
Beginning in 2018, the theatre transitioned to offering children's theatre productions as special events periodically throughout the year.
Way Off Broadway, in addition to its Mainstage and Children's Theatre, offers original interactive murder mysteries during the season. [4] The Children’s Theatre Breakfast Series includes an annual Princess Breakfast and Breakfast with Santa.
In the fall of 2019, Way Off Broadway co-produced the first regional theatre production of the new musical comedy The Book of Merman, which had made its Off-Broadway premiere the winter before at New York’s St. Luke’s Theatre. WOB’s production starred Melissa Ann Martin as Ethel Merman, Joseph Waeyaert as Elder Braithwaite, and Paul Cabell as Elder Shumway. The production was co-produced with Justin M. Kiska and Jessica Billones. [10]
The theater is located in Frederick, Maryland, west of Baltimore and north of Washington, D.C. Since it opened, it has operated in the same location, in the Willowtree Plaza along Route 40, also known as Frederick’s "Golden Mile." A traditional proscenium style theater, Way Off Broadway serves a buffet meal to its audiences, who watch the show from their tables. The serving staff is made up of cast and crew members from the productions.
On November 11, 2010, Way Off Broadway announced the formation of WOB Entertainment, a multi-faceted division to manage all of the company's activities outside of the theater. Designed to develop, produce, and present stage productions at venues outside of the Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, it offers theatrical consulting and operation services as well, both creative and managerial, to other arts and commercial organizations and companies. WOB Entertainment also acts as the agent and representative for all of the original works first produced at Way Off Broadway, including its interactive murder mysteries, holiday productions, and the Children's Theatre Collection. [11]
The Muppet Show is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with running gags taking place backstage and in other areas of the venue.
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theater, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." She performed on Broadway in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly!
Annie Get Your Gun is a 1946 musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).
Call Me Madam is a Broadway musical written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.
Located in Olney, Maryland, the Olney Theatre Center offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round that enrich, nurture, and challenge a broad range of artists, audiences and students. One of the two official state theaters of Maryland, Olney Theatre Center is situated on 14 acres (57,000 m2) in the middle of the Washington–Baltimore–Frederick "triangle." There are three indoor venues: the Historic Theatre, the Roberts Mainstage, and the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. There is also an outdoor venue, the Root Family Stage at Omi’s Pavilion.
Theodore Raymond Knight is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dr. George O'Malley on the ABC medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2007.
Du Barry Was a Lady is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. The musical starred Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman and Betty Grable, and the song "Friendship" was one of the highlights. The musical was made into a 1943 Technicolor film Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra.
Dames at Sea is a 1966 musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise.
The Citadel Theatre is the major venue for theatre arts in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, located in the city's downtown core on Churchill Square. It is the third largest regional theatre in Canada.
Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American actress and singer. She has played leading roles in 11 Broadway productions including New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.
The Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is a regional theater established in 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, specializing in plays for families, young audiences and the very young. The theater is the largest theater for multigenerational audiences in the United States and is the recipient of 2003 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. The November 2, 2004, edition of Time magazine named the company as the top theater for children in the U.S.
The Civic Theatre of Allentown, also known as the Nineteenth Street Theatre, is the oldest cinema in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The theater opened on September 17, 1928. It hosts live theater, educational programs, and screens art house films. In July 1957, the property was purchased by Allentown's Civic Little Theatre. Since then, stage productions have been performed at the theater. In 1994 the company officially changed its name to the Civic Theatre of Allentown. Its building on 19th Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.
The York Theatre Company is an Off-Broadway theatre company based on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Established in 1969, The York is the only theater in New York City, and one of the few in the world, whose two-fold mission is to produce new musical works and rediscover musical gems from the past. The York’s intimate, imaginative producing style has become its trademark. Its productions have won critical acclaim, a host of honors and awards, and a loyal audience. Just as important, The York provides a nurturing, constructive environment for new artists to hone their craft, and for some of the masters of the musical theater’s Golden Age to take fresh looks at their classic works. A special Drama Desk Award was presented to the company for its “vital contributions to theater by developing and producing new musicals,” as well as an Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for “50 years of producing new and classic musicals.”
Larry Grossman is an American composer for theatre, television, film, concerts, and cabaret.
Gilles Chiasson is an American producer, director, composer, writer and actor. While he first came to prominence as an actor, particularly in the original cast of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning RENT, Chiasson went on to work in film and television development, then theater administration and operations, and now works in education. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Sherri Parker Lee and their two sons. He is a theater teacher at a high school in Los Angeles.
Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is a regional theatre company in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, and former Managing Director Susan Sperber in Sheffield, Massachusetts. In 2004, BSC developed, workshopped, and premiered the hit musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Following the successful Broadway run, which nabbed two Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor, BSC made the move to a more permanent home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Megan Lawrence is an American actress best known for her roles on Broadway. Among other honors, she has been nominated for a Tony Award. She has also appeared Off-Broadway, in regional theatre and on television.
Gustave Schirmer IV (1918–1992), better known as Gus Schirmer Jr., was a director, producer, and talent agent in film and theatre. Schirmer directed and produced plays that ran On Broadway and Off Broadway. He also helped launch the careers of several actors.