With the downturn in the national economy over the last two years, one of the hardest hit industries was live theatre. Countless theatre companies were forced to close their doors as a result of a massive decline in audience attendance. Right here in western Maryland however, one theatre, the Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, not only beat the odds and celebrated its 15th Anniversary Season, it actually increased its yearly revenue. Just last week, Way Off Broadway opened its 2010 Season with a bang when the curtain rose on the Frederick premiere of The Full Monty.
Over the years, the Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre has produced many firsts for Frederick theater. Big name shows have taken their first bows - not just in Frederick, but western Maryland - on the WOB stage. This has accounted for the theatre's recent success. In 2009, WOB became one of the very first theatres in the country to produce a regional production of the musical comedy The Wedding Singer followed later in the season by Mel Brooks' blockbuster The Producers. The previous year, Thoroughly Modern Millie was performed for the first time in the area at WOB. This season, the theatre's 16th year, WOB is host to two area premieres (The Full Monty and All Shook Up) and one regional theatre premiere production (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels).
"We have been very lucky to be able to bring so many great shows to the Frederick area over the years," says Justin M. Kiska, WOB's President and Managing Director. "The theatre has a wonderful working relationship with the New York licensing companies which affords us the opportunity to be one of the first theatres around to sign production contracts for the new shows coming right off of Broadway and national tours."
Filling the cast for each of WOB's productions are talented performers that come from all over the region. Some who have performed on the WOB stage have gone on to appear on Broadway or in national touring productions including Alex Strange (Ragtime, Les Miserables), Bobby Steggert (110 in the Shade, 2009 Ragtime revival), and Brandon Warner (Starlight Express national tour).
"The talent pool we have to cast from here at WOB is only getting better with each season," says Kiska of the casting process.
It isn't just Way Off Broadway's Mainstage productions that have made the theatre one of the most unique entertainment venues in the area though. In 1996, WOB launched what has become its wildly popular Children's Theatre which offers musical adaptations of fairytales to audiences on the weekends. Each of The Children's Theatre shows is written specifically for the theatre and includes original music and lyrics.
Being part of the dinner theatre, guests for Children's Theatre also have lunch. Making this time more memorable for the young audience members is the fact their servers are the costumed characters from the show they are about to see.
"There really is nothing like what Way Off Broadway's Children's Theatre has to offer in the area," says Susan Thornton, founder and Director of The Children's Theatre. "Since it first opened, the kids' shows have become a very popular place for Girl Scout and Brownie troops as well as, birthday parties and school groups."
One of The Children's Theatre's greatest achievements was its world premiere stage production of Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree in 2005. Until that time, the only other organization that had ever been granted to rights to use author Robert Berry's characters and story was Jim Henson's Muppets for a television special.
Being one of the areas only year-round, professional producing theatres, it was only natural for Way Off Broadway to begin offering youth theatre acting classes as an extension of its Children's Theatre summer camp program. These classes and camps offer young want-to-be performers a chance to "get their feet wet" and learn about theatre while putting on their own mini-productions.
Classes are offered at different times throughout the year, for different age groups. The most popular of which being the summer camp. Registration for that begins on the first Saturday morning in March. Parents have even been known to start lining up at 5:00 in the morning so they can be one of the first to sign their child up for camp.
It was in the last two years when Way Off Broadway began to put a new emphasis on holding special events at the theatre. Interactive murder mysteries had been part of previous seasons. They were so popular and in demand that the theatre began offering special, short runs of new mysteries. The first was a three weekend run of the original Murder by Marriage - A Wedding to Remember, followed the next year by the two performances only presentations of A Fantasy Fairytale Murder Mystery and The Class Reunion Caper. All of which played to sold house houses.
"The Box Office is always taking calls asking if we have a murder mystery coming up," says Kiska. "Everyone wants to be Sherlock Holmes. We have another in the works for our current season and at one time, we even discussed opening a second theatre which would only produce interactive murder mysteries. This is an idea that still pops up from time-to-time."
