The 2024 season marks a landmark for one of the area’s most established and respected theater organizations. With the opening of Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced on January 19, 2024, The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre in Frederick, Maryland, will kick off its Blockbuster 30th Anniversary Season. To celebrate the milestone, WOB’s producers have announced a lineup that includes regional premiere productions of some of the newest and biggest name shows to appear on Broadway in recent seasons.
Each season, Way Off Broadway’s Mainstage produces five Broadway-style productions. Over the years, shows such as 42nd Street, Damn Yankees, Oliver!, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The King & I, Annie, Steel Magnolias, Guys & Dolls, Nunsense, Oklahoma!, Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Evita, CATS, The Full Monty, All Shook Up, South Pacific, Hairspray, Jekyll & Hyde, Legally Blonde, Les Misérables, The Addams Family, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia!, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, and Hello, Dolly! have all found homes at the Frederick Theatre.
Way Off Broadway has also become known, and has made a name for itself, by producing regional and area premiere productions. These include the first-time Frederick productions of Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl – The Musical, Jerry Herman’s La Cage aux Folles, Mel Brooks’ The Producer, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5: The Musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Gilligan’s Island – The Musical, and The Beverly Hillbillies – The Musical. In 2009, Way Off Broadway was also one of the very first theaters in the country to receive the rights to produce a regional production of the musical comedy The Wedding Singer.
Coming to Way Off Broadway in 2024 will be productions of Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced, a regional theater premiere production of Diana – The Musical, the comedy musical Tootsie, a regional theatre premiere production of Anastasia, and the new holiday musical Christmas Chronicles.
SEASON LINEUP
Agatha Christie’s
A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED
January 19 – March 2, 2024
An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blacklock’s Victorian house. What follows is a classic Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, a second death, and a determined inspector grimly following the case’s twists and turns. Fortunately, Miss Marple is on hand to provide the solution – at some risk to herself – in a dramatic final confrontation.
Written by LESLIE DARBON
Adapted from the Novel by AGATHA CHRISTIE
Show Rating: PG
DIANA – THE MUSICAL
A Regional Theater Premiere Production
March 22 – May 18, 2024
It’s 1981 and the world is hungry for a royal wedding — but is the 20-year-old bride prepared for what comes after? Following her fairytale union, Princess Diana faces a distant husband, an unmovable monarchy, and overwhelming media scrutiny. But her modern perspective and remarkable compassion galvanizes a nation, even as it threatens the royal family’s hold on England.
Book & Lyrics by JOE DiPIETRO
Music & Lyrics by DAVID BRYAN
Show Rating: PG13
TOOTSIE
June 14 – August 24, 2024
Tootsie is the hilarious award-winning musical based on one of the funniest comedic films of all time, in which Michael Dorsey is a skilled actor with a talent for not keeping a job. Desperate and out-of-work, he makes a last-ditch effort at making his dreams come true…by disguising himself as actress Dorothy Michaels. In a meteoric rise to Broadway stardom, Dorothy soon has audiences falling at her feet while Michael (disguised as Dorothy) is falling for his co-star.
Music & Lyrics by DAVID YAZBEK
Book by ROBERT HORN
Based on the story by DON McGUIRE and LARRY GELBART and the COLUMBIA PICTURES Film
Show Rating: R
ANASTASIA
September 13 – November 2, 2024
This dazzling show transports its audience from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing con man and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.
Book by TERRENCE McNALLY
Music by STEPHEN FLAHERTY
Lyrics by LYNN AHRENS
Show Rating: PG
CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES
November 22 – December 21, 2024
Every year Way Off Broadway brings a brand new Christmas production to the stage, making it the perfect place to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. Always the most popular of the year, blending songs and music from Christmases past and present, the show is perfect for the entire family.
Written by JUSTIN M. KISKA
Show Rating: G
“Our 2024 Season is a blockbuster!” says Bill Kiska, Way Off Broadway’s Executive Producer & Chief Executive Officer. “We wanted to put together an amazing lineup of shows for our 30th anniversary and we think we’ve done just that. We’ve had such an unbelievable reaction from our audiences since we announced next year’s productions. It’s going to be Way Off Broadway’s biggest year yet.”
Over the years, The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre has seen a great number of changes. Production sizes and values have increased, performance schedules have expanded, and audiences have grown. Then came the global pandemic in 2020 and Way Off Broadway found itself shut down for nearly seven months. While many theaters around the country were forced to close their doors for good, WOB took the time to adapt and integrate new health and safety practices so it was able to hit the ground running when theaters were allowed to reopen. Now, three years after the shutdown, average audience size has returned to pre-Covid highs, with over 40% of the theater’s audience coming from outside of Frederick County in 2023. At any given performance, there are guests from Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, West Virginia, and Carroll and Washington Counties.
The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, under the direction of the Kiska family since 2002, is currently in its 29th season of producing live theater. Since it first opened in 1995, the theater has been a leader in the area’s theater community, proudly bringing both classic musicals, as well as regional and area premieres to the Frederick stage.
In addition to its regular Mainstage season, Way Off Broadway produces a number of special events throughout the year, including family theater productions and an annual Breakfast with Santa (and Mrs. Claus).Through its outside producing brand, WOB LIVE! Entertainment, Way Off Broadway also presents Marquee Mysteries – an interactive murder mystery series where the audience helps solve the case – not only at the theater, but regularly on the Walkersville Southern Railroad and other venues throughout the area for private functions. www.wayoffbroadway.com
