Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre Opens 2013 Season with STEEL MAGNOLIAS, Now thru 3/9

The 2013 Season is the year that Broadway and Hollywood meet at The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre. For its 19th Anniversary Season, the theatre has a line-up of shows that were hits both on the silver screen and on the Broadway stage. The first of these blockbuster shows, which will open the theatre's new season, is STEEL MAGNOLIAS, one of the most funny and heartwarming plays ever to appear on the stage.

The quintessential story of friendship and trust, STEEL MAGNOLIAS serves up a southern slice of life that's as warm and comforting as sweet potato pie! In the world of Truvy's Salon, six women come together to share their secrets, fears, and love for one another while engaging the audience in hysterical and neighborly gossip. From weddings to divorces, babies to funerals, new beginnings to happy and sad endings, they share each moment in their lives with grace and heart.

Though written and produced Off-Broadway in 1987, STEEL MAGNOLIAS did not find the huge success it now knows until a motion picture adaptation was release in 1989 starring Sally Fields, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Shirley MacLaine. The play did not take its first bow on Broadway until 2005 with a cast that included Frances Sternhagen, Christine Ebersole, and Delta Burke. Most recently, in the fall of 2012, Lifetime Television aired a remake of the film with an all African-American cast starring Phylicia Rashad, Alfre Woodard, and Queen Latifa.

Robert Harling, the author behind STEEL MAGNOLIAS, based the play on the death of his own sister, who, like Shelby in the stage play, died due to complications with diabetes. STEEL MAGNOLIAS is his way of showing how lighthearted conversations and stories helped his family and friends deal with the tragedy and loss. As audiences find themselves one minute wiping away tears of laughter and the next tears of sadness, it is clear why STEEL MAGNOLIAS has become the massively successful show that it has become and why anyone who sees it always has a special place for it in their hearts.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS took its first played on the Way Off Broadway stage during the 2004 Season and broke Box Office records making it the most successful straight play the theatre had ever produced. In the nine years since, it has been the most requested show to bring back to the theatre. To kick off the season where Broadway and Hollywood meet, Way Off Broadway is bringing a brand new production to the stage

Way Off Broadway's 2013 production of STEEL MAGNOLIAS stars Suzanna Fox as Truvy, Alexandra Garcia Guyker as M'Lynn, Denise Lynn Hoover as Clairee, Melinda Kinslow as Shelby, Rachel Silvert as Annelle, and Genevieve Williams as Ouiser. The production directed by the theatre's Creative Director, Jordan B. Stocksdale, and stage managed by Joseph Waeyaert. The show runs from tonight, January 11 - March 9, 2013.

Following STEEL MAGNOLIAS in the 2013 Season will be Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, Legally Blonde, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, and Mr. Claus.

For additional information about any of Way Off Broadway's productions or events, call the Box Office at 301-662-6600 or visit www.wayoffbroadway.com.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre has been a leader in the region's performing arts community since it first opened in 1995. Under the direction of the Kiska Family since 2002, Way Off Broadway has produced such productions as A Funny Thing . . . Forum, Guys & Dolls, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, Oklahoma!, Grease, Fiddler on the Roof, The Odd Couple, A Chorus Line, Lend Me a Tenor, The Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Evita, Cats, The Full Monty, South Pacific, and Hairspray, as well as the regional and/or area premieres of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl - The Musical, Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles, the musical comedy The Wedding Singer, Mel Brooks' The Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The Drowsy Chaperone. Located along Route 40 West, the Golden Mile in Frederick, the theatre also produces a one-of-a-kind children's lunch theatre, as well as a number of special events throughout the year.

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