New Theatre Restaurant Provides Lots of Laughter

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Sit through a production at New Theatre Restaurant, and you’ll always find plenty of laughter echoing throughout the room.  For 37 years, co-owners and artistic directors Dennis Hennessy and Richard Carrothers have been entertaining Kansas City with top notch dinner theater.

Hennessy sums it up in one sentence:  “It's an interactive social experience over dinner and over a comedy.”

Hennessy and Carrothers opened New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park in 1992.  But their Kansas City roots extend back to 1972 when they opened Tiffany's Attic, followed by the Waldo Astoria the next year. 

"When we started in 1972,” Carrothers says.  “We were in our 20's.  And so it wasn't a matter of can we succeed or fail. You just do it."

And indeed they did, with great success.  For 37 years, not a week has passed that one of these two hasn't had a production on a Kansas City stage.  It's the caliber of their work and the reputation of New Theatre that sells out their shows week after week, season after season. 

Hennessy credits New Theatre's success to three things: “I think the food is very important. Service is very important. And the production is very important. We focus on all three of them. In most cases of the other dinner theaters, they may be business people, but they don't have a theater background which we do.”

"We do have some of the best managers in town,” Carrothers adds. “We have some of the best chefs in town. We've put together the A Team in terms of the staff for here. And then you bring in exceptional actors from New York and it's a really good package."

New Theatre scores when it comes to bringing in familiar names like M*A*S*H's Jamie Farr. He's currently starring in "Don't Dress for Dinner" – his sixth appearance at New Theatre in 12 years.

"You know in terms of Hollywood, it's a very small fraternity or sorority and the word gets around very quickly,” Carrothers explains. “So if like a Jamie Farr goes back and he's at a party and he says 'You know, I had the best time. This is a great place to work.' The agents call us."

In addition to big names, New Theatre is also known for bringing big name and vintage favorites back to the stage. "The Sound of Music" opens June 25th. It's already 90 percent sold out. But with that familiarity, can come challenges.

“There are some pitfalls to it because you already know the story,” Carrothers says. “So it's very easy to let the audience get ahead of you and going 'Come on, hurry up, catch up with me.'"

But through it all, they pull it off -- delighting audience after audience. That leaves a very grateful Richard and Dennis giving back to the Kansas City community that's given the two of them much success.

“We've been very successful here, knock on wood,” Hennessy says. “And we feel an obligation to give back to the community. They've given us a lot and we're very thankful for that.”

In fact, New Theatre Restaurant, Richard and Dennis were just honored as Business Philanthropist of the year for their work in the community – which includes supporting the arts, adoption, animals and Harvesters.