Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre & Children's Theatre

Putting it Together: The Creation of a Season
Posted: March 7, 2010     From: WOB
__________________________________________________________________________________

Most people don't realize how earlier the planning actually begins. Planning for the next season usually starts shortly after the current one opens. That is exactly how it is right now with the 2011 Season.

It all begins with the creation of a list. All the possible shows that our guests have asked about, the producers are interested in brining to the stage, etc. Often times, the list ends up being very, very long. WOB's usual season has five Mainstage productions. One of those is an original Christmas show, so that leaves four shows to be selected each year. And when the original list of potentials is over twenty shows or more, there is a lot of work to be done narrowing it down.

The process begins by talking with the various licensing companies in New York City to see what shows are available for regional productions. If a show is currently, or soon to be going, on national tour and coming through the area, rights to produce that show can be restricted as to not compete with the national tour.

If a show's rights are available, the next question is, "How much are the royalties?" This is determined by a variety of factors that we won't bore you with now. But some shows are just too expensive at certain times to include in a season. Another thing people don't realize is that before Way Off Broadway can even announce it is going to produce a certain show, it has to pay thousands of dollars in rights and royalties.

It's also important to balance a season. It's not always a good idea to have a season full of female or male heavy shows. Also, a season full of dramas leaves out people's love of laughter and comedies. And right now, the musical comedies are proving to be what WOB audiences are looking for.

Over the last several years, WOB has been very proud to also be the first theater in the area (and in some cases, the country) to produce certain shows. WOB's 2008 staging of the musical comedy The Wedding Singer was one of the first regional theatre productions in the entire country. Other area premieres at WOB have included Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mel Brooks' The Producers, and this spring's All Shook Up. Continuing this trend is something WOB wants to continue doing, so the producers are always working with the New York licensing companies to get the first production contracts for new shows as they become available.

Next comes the research. What shows are popular? What do audiences want to see? Have certain shows been presented at other area theaters and not done so well? The list of questions goes on.

So, with all of those factors in mind, WOB's producers start narrowing down the initial list of possible shows. Some shows make it to the list year after year, but for one reason or another just never make it on to the season. Others, come out of no where, everyone falls in live with them, and they are the first show picked.

The most important decision every year is picking the season. A season can make or break a theater. Even though it is the most important (and sometimes complicated) processes, it can also be very fun. With so many great shows out there to choose from, the possibilities seem almost endless.

WOB is currently working on coming up with the perfect 2011 Season. There is still a lot of work to do before the official announcement is made during the summer. So stay tuned!

Becoming the Step Family - CINDERELLA
Posted: February 21, 2010     From: WOB
__________________________________________________________________________________





So how did The Full Monty get its name anyway? The origin of the term 'the full monty' - THE FULL MONTY
Posted: February 17, 2010     From: Ann Davis
__________________________________________________________________________________

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the movie WAS the first time the British slang phrase was used to mean "total nudity". Check it out:

1. Chiefly with the. Everything which is necessary, appropriate, or possible; 'the works'.

1985 K. HOWARTH Sounds Gradely (North West Sound Archive), Full-monty, everything included..a thorough display - no messing about. 1986 J. MILLER Street Talk 42 Full monty, everything included. To avoid the awkwardness of stumbling through an unfamiliar menu, someone might tell the waiter: 'We'll have the full monty'. 1994 Guitarist Sept. 169/1 (advt.) When you buy your new Vester bass from us, you can rest assured that it receives the full monty. 1995 Guardian 13 Jan. I. 24/5 When conducting a funeral he wears the full monty; frock coat, top hat and a Victorian cane with metal tip. 2001 Leicester Mercury (Electronic ed.) 13 Jan., What if you're so overworked that when you get back from the office, nothing less than The Full Monty will do when it comes to domestic help?

2. spec. Freq. in form Full Monty. Chiefly with the. Total nudity (esp. for public display); a striptease. Freq. (in later use) in to do the Full Monty: to strip. Also as adj.: totally naked.

The use was popularized by Peter Cattaneo's 1997 film The Full Monty, about a group of men who become strippers after being made redundant.

1997 S. BEAUFOY Full Monty (film script) 86 Horse: No one said owt about going the full monty to me... Gaz: We've got to give 'em something your average ten-bob stripper don't. 1997 Sunday Mirror (Electronic ed.) 12 Jan., Disappointingly, Steve doesn't get his kit off in Ivanhoe. 'I'm bare-chested a couple of times, but not the full Monty,' he says. 1999 Evening Express (Aberdeen) (Electronic ed.) 24 May, A hunky TV highlander joined North-east businessmen in a money-spinning Full Monty. 2001 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Electronic ed.) 15 Jan. (headline), Bingo boys do the Full Monty -- Cheeky callers in sponsored strip for charity calendar.

On his blog Podictionary, Thomas Hodgson adds:
Surprise surprise the OED does actually have an entry for full monty meaning the "whole shebang." Evidently the expression full monty has been in slang usage in England for decades, although the earliest citation the OED can wring out is 1985. Michael Quinion at World Wide Words feels sure he was hearing it back in the '50s....Theories abound on why the full monty might mean "the whole nine yards",but the one that the experts suspect to be the real deal is that a certain tailor named Montague Maurice Burton [famous Lithuanian-British haberdasher from the turn of the 20th century] is being honoured for his complete men's suits - which is kind of ironic since the movie that made the phrase famous, and in fact the use of the phrase in the movie, had to do with no clothing at all. [http://www.podictionary.com/?s=quinion]

"How do you feel about going the full monty?" - THE FULL MONTY
Posted: February 16, 2010 From: WOB
________________________________________________________________________

After the special Valentine's Day performance, we caught up with the guys in the cast and asked them this question: "How do you feel about going 'the full monty'?" Click on the cast photos below to see what they had to say.

    Jordan Stocksdale as Jerry             Jonny Kigin as Dave

    Bill Kiska as Harold                          Darnell Morris as Horse

    Shawn Nakia as Malcolm               Gary DiNardo as Ethan