Paul Wontorek

Paul Wontorek is an American theater personality, entrepreneur, journalist, host and editor-in-chief at Broadway.com.[1]

Paul Wontorek
Born (1971-05-29) May 29, 1971
Maryville, Tennessee
Alma materFordham University
OccupationEditor-In-Chief at Broadway.com, Inc. VP of Content & Creative at Broadway.com, Inc.
Known forShow People with Paul Wontorek, The Broadway.com Show
Websitewww.broadway.com

Early life and education

Wontorek grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and was involved in theater during high school. At 18, he began school at Fordham University in New York City as a journalism major. There, he wrote for the Fordham Observer, the school's newspaper, and interned at TheaterWeek magazine. After graduating, Wontorek worked as a graphic designer. Concurrently, he began his own independent musical theater magazine, Upstage.[2]

Career

Early in his career, Wontorek was a freelance reporter for InTheater Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.[3] He also worked as a stage manager on small musical theater productions in New York[4][5] and was contracted for design work for various cast albums.[6] Wontorek saw the ability of theater actors to be "stars" and began to formulate the idea for Broadway.com, a website focused on both selling New York theater tickets and releasing editorials about the show's stars.[2] A year later, BroadwayBox.com, a spin-off site for discount theater tickets, was founded.[7] In 2010, Broadway.com and BroadwayBox.com were bought by Key Brand Entertainment from Hollywood Media Corp[8] for approximately $45 million.[9]

Wontorek runs the editorial and video production at Broadway.com. He is executive producer of the site's video content and hosts the online shows Show People with Paul Wontorek[10] and The Broadway.com Show.

Wontorek made his Broadway debut in The Prom, opening the May 14, 2019 performance. He replaced the Broadway red carpet reporter character Olivia Keating, normally played by cast member Courtney Balan, interviewing Dee Dee Allen (Beth Leavel) at opening night of her musical Eleanor: The Eleanor Roosevelt Musical.[11]

After the Broadway shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Wontorek was a creative force as director and producer behind many well-received events hosted by Broadway.com. Among those works were the starry concert event Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration and the one-night-only return of The Rosie O'Donnell Show as a fundraiser for the Actors Fund, as well as readings Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Buyer & Cellar starring Michael Urie.

References
  1. "Broadway.com, Inc.: Private Company Information". Businessweek. Retrieved 2016-07-04.
  2. "How Broadway.com editor Paul Wontorek made Broadway click". Stage-Rush.com. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
  3. "Paul Wontorek". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  4. Willis, John (1996-01-01). Theatre World 1993-1994. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557832351.
  5. Willis, John (2000-03-01). Theatre World 1994-1995. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781557832504.
  6. "Paul Wontorek | Credits". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2016-07-04.
  7. "About Us". BroadwayBox.com. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  8. "Key Brand Entertainment". www.kbeinc.net. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
  9. "Hollywood Media Corp. Announces Completion of Sale of Broadway Ticketing Division". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2016-07-04.
  10. "The Color Purple Star Cynthia Erivo on Dating Aladdin, Falling for Heather Headley & Playing Whoopi Roles". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  11. "Inside Look at a Broadway Debut! Go Backstage & Onstage at The Prom with Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
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