Paul Wontorek is an American theater personality, journalist, host and editor-in-chief at 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. In 1991, he interned at TheaterWeek magazine. After graduating, Wontorek worked as a graphic designer. Concurrently, he founded the musical-theater magazine, Upstage.
Career
Early in his career, Wontorek was a freelance reporter for InTheater Magazine and Entertainment Weekly. He also worked as a stage manager on small musical theater productions in New York and was contracted for design work for various cast albums. 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. A year later, BroadwayBox.com, a spin-off site for discount theater tickets, was founded. In 2010, Broadway.com and BroadwayBox.com were bought by Key Brand Entertainment from Hollywood Media Corp for approximately $45 million. 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 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 at opening night of her musical Eleanor: The Eleanor Roosevelt Musical. 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.
