Walter Bobbie

Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, actor, and dancer born on November 18, 1945, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Raised in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, he graduated from Boonton High School in 1963 before attending the University of Scranton and completing graduate work at The Catholic University of America. His family was Polish Roman Catholic, his father worked as a coal miner, and Bobbie spoke fluent Polish. His Broadway career spans from 1971 to 2018.

Bobbie's performing career on Broadway began with Grease, in which he originated the role of Roger in 1972. He subsequently appeared in the 1976 revival of Going Up and played Lord Oakleigh in the 1987 revival of Anything Goes. Among his most recognized acting credits was the role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls, a performance that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. He also appeared in the Broadway productions of Getting Married, Frank Merriwell, Cafe Crown, and other productions. Off-Broadway, he played Harry in Company in 1980 and appeared in Assassins in 1989. In 1995, he portrayed Comptroller Schub in a concert production of Anyone Can Whistle at Carnegie Hall. His most recent Broadway acting credit came in 2018, when he appeared in Saint Joan as Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais.

Bobbie's transition into directing brought him his greatest professional recognition. He served as Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series in 1995 and 1996, and it was through that platform that he staged a concert version of Chicago, which subsequently transferred to Broadway as a full revival. That production earned him both the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical, both in 1997. He also directed the Encores! staged concerts of Fiorello! in 1994, Tenderloin in 2000, and Golden Boy in 2002, and co-adapted the book for the 1996 Encores! production of Du Barry Was a Lady. He appeared as a performer in the 2007 Encores! production of Face the Music and directed No, No, Nanette there in 2008.

Earlier in his directing career, Bobbie helmed the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night for Singing at Rainbow & Stars in 1992 and at the Roundabout Theatre in 1993. The production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical, a distinction noted as historically unusual for a revue, as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Revue. He went on to direct the Broadway musical Footloose in 1998, for which he also co-wrote the book, and co-wrote and directed The Road to Hollywood at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2002. His subsequent Broadway directing credits include the 2004 Roundabout Theatre production of Twentieth Century with Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche, the 2005 revival of Sweet Charity with Christina Applegate, and High Fidelity in 2006. He also directed a one-night benefit concert of South Pacific at Carnegie Hall in 2005, starring Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The musical White Christmas, which Bobbie directed, ran on Broadway in limited engagements from November 2008 through January 2009 and again from November 2009 through January 2010, earning him a 2009 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Musical.

Bobbie's directing work extended to Off-Broadway and regional theatre as well. In 2009, he directed the New York premiere of The Savannah Disputations by Evan Smith at Playwrights Horizons, with a cast that included Marylouise Burke, Dana Ivey, Kellie Overby, and Reed Birney. In 2010, he directed the Terrence McNally play Golden Age at the Kennedy Center.