The 2021 Fayetteville Dinner Theatre will present “Beyond Broadway: Music of Our Time” June 17-19 at the Gates Four Golf & Country Club. Tim Zimmerman and Linda Flynn will headline the show with special guest Tyler Tew.

Zimmerman and Flynn will perform popular Broadway musical hits for the audience.

“Tim used to work on cruise ships, and this is a show he did,” Flynn said.

“He included me in this and I helped him with the backstage stuff. It’s Broadway shows rockified cause that's Tim’s whole style, he makes Broadway rock ’n’ roll.”

The musical will focus on duets with mild banter in between by Flynn and Zimmerman, including mashups, medleys and hits from shows such as “Phantom of the Opera,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Les Miserables” and more.

Written by Zimmerman and directed by Up & Coming Weekly Publisher Bill Bowman, the dinner theatre will commence at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception and wine tasting followed by a dinner and the performance at 7 p.m.

“I think we have got something like 13 to 14 numbers in the show, the first act is 45 minutes long and the second act is 30 minutes long,” Zimmerman said.
“This is going to be a night of all your Broadway favorites, Broadway tunes from classic and modern as well.”

There will be three performances. The June 17 show will be a dessert preview which includes the welcome reception and dessert (no dinner). Tickets are $40 per person.
Tickets for performances on June 18 and 19 will be $75 for general admission or $95 for VIP seating. The dinner theatre offers senior (age 65 and up) and active duty military discount tickets for $65.

Although a wine tasting is part of the welcome reception, wine will also be available for purchase. All wine sales will be donated to The CARE Clinic, which provides free quality health care to eligible uninsured, low income adults who live in Cumberland County and surrounding areas. The CARE Clinic relies entirely on the generosity of donors, grants from foundations and fundraising events.

Tickets for all shows can be purchased at www.fayettevilledinnertheatre.com

“We are excited because COVID has restricted everything and not everyone can plan a trip to New York City, so we are bringing Broadway to them,” Bowman said.

“Beyond Broadway” will be a more refined version of the headliner show Zimmerman performed on cruise ships, Bowman said.
The dinner theatre will also showcase local musician Tyler Tew.

“I was trying to get some music out and when the opportunity came up with the Fayetteville Dinner Theatre for me to come out as a special guest and perform, I thought it was great,” Tew said. “It's strictly country music, growing up hunting, fishing, my family listened to country and that’s something I relate to.”

Tew, a singer-songwriter and guitar player, will perform a half-hour set. He said he is excited for people to hear his music.

“One of the things that the Fayetteville Dinner Theatre aims to do is showcase local talent and give young people a chance to perform while maintaining a quality performance for the audience,” Bowman said.

So far, audiences approve. The last Fayetteville Dinner Theatre show “A Sinister Cabaret” in April sold out both performances and prompted Bowman to offer a third performance this time around.

Bowman said he is expecting a similar response for “Beyond Broadway.”

“It's definitely a great dinner theatre show, and Gates Four is the perfect venue,” Bowman said. “We know that there is definitely demand for this kind of entertainment.”

“We’ve got good theatre here with Cape Fear and the Gilbert but we didn't have a dinner theatre,” said Bowman who resurrected the Fayetteville Dinner Theatre a few years ago.

“People had to go to Greensboro, Raleigh or Charlotte for dinner theatre," he said. "We really found the right niche to be able to pull all this talent together to perform. It has been very rewarding.”