Raymond Wu serves as Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and in this role is charged with identifying titles and characters from the world-renowned Warner Bros. Entertainment library that lend themselves to the stage and developing them into theatrical productions. Theatre Ventures is well-positioned as a dynamic and resourceful creative entity in the live theater arena, able to draw upon its extensive relationships with top theatrical talent as well as the Studio’s vast collection of iconic film and television properties. Wu shares oversight of the division with Mark Kaufman, who also holds the title of Executive Vice President, Theatre Ventures.
For the 2013 theatrical season, Theatre Ventures will debut the highly anticipated musical adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Sam Mendes attached to direct. The show is scheduled to begin previews in May and officially open in June in London. Theatre Ventures also has a number of other shows in various stages of development, including co-productions with award-winning Broadway, film and television producers. The roster of upcoming projects includes dramas, comedies and musicals based on both library titles and original concepts.
Theatre Ventures’ recent productions include a developmental engagement of the drama Misery, with Oscar-winner Bill Goldman adapting his 1990 screenplay for the Broadway stage, and the return of the hit holiday production Elf to Broadway for nine weeks, both in late 2012. In 2010, Wu was part of the management team behind Theatre Ventures’ record-breaking holiday run of Elf on Broadway, based on the hit New Line Cinema release of the same name.
Wu was also involved in Theatre Ventures’ earlier Broadway productions, including Baby It’s You!, the inspiring story of Florence Greenberg, the woman who changed the recording world forever when she discovered The Shirelles and created Scepter Records, and Lestat, based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and featuring an original score by the legendary song writing team of Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
Working with Kaufman, Wu shares oversight of the division’s licensing of third-party stage rights to the various properties held within the Studio’s vast media library, including such recent stage productions as Light in the Piazza, The Wizard of Oz, The Color Purple, 42nd Street and The Bodyguard as well as the upcoming Diner, Bridges of Madison County and Honeymoon in Vegas.
Prior to his current position, Wu previously served as Senior Vice President of Development and Head of Operations for Theatre Ventures. Before joining Warner Bros. in 2005, Wu was with Disney Theatricals, producers of the stage hits The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He was also an attorney at the law firms Katten, Muchin & Zavis and Haight, Brown & Bonesteel.
Wu holds an undergraduate degree with honors in history from Clark University (Massachusetts) and a juris doctor degree from Boston University. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter and son.