The strategic minds behind Tanninger Entertainment from the outside in.

This is a story about what happens when a talented trio of friends carefully mines the sweet spot that exists between audacity and humility. It’s a multi-layered story within a story. You might think the big, giant, momentous story here is that the tour-de-force partnership behind Tanninger Entertainment is producing the super-buzzy Broadway musical The Outsiders with Angelina Jolie, which just opened in New York’s historic Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, which is absolutely very cool. 

Or maybe the big story is that they’ve just announced another phenomenal venture, a musical production of The Queen of Versailles, starring Tony and Emmy Award winning superstar and fellow Oklahoman Kristin Chenoweth, who is also serving as a producer. Remember that documentary? No? Make some popcorn, queue it up and let the glory of seeing Chenoweth sparkle in the upcoming musical sink in. By the way, you heard it here first — quite a scoop!  

While these high-profile projects are certainly huge, splashy, exciting news, the real story is the thoughtful, painstaking, strategic work undertaken by Tanninger Entertainment’s partners, spouses Jay Krottinger and Ryan Jude Tanner, and their pal Pat Chernicky, who have been friends and producers for decades. The Outsiders is the 22nd and Versailles is the 23rd production our trio of geniuses has undertaken together, and their track record is sterling. Since 2012, Tanner and Krottinger’s Broadway productions have grossed over $400 million in ticket sales.

Luxiere caught up with Team Tanninger just as a huge story in the Sunday New York Times broke — which followed along as the show’s young cast members, along with Jolie, toured Tulsa, visting the Outsiders House and lunching with the notoriously private S.E. Hinton, who wrote the internationally revered coming-of-age novel while still in high school herself.

The book, set in Tulsa, has been a groundbreaking read for generations of young people. It’s part of the English curriculum at countless high schools around the world. The Outsiders has experienced a boom in the last two decades, now selling upwards of 300,000 print copies a year. Before that, it was adapted into a beloved  movie by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983, starring — and launching the careers of — Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.

Its plot centers around the Curtis brothers, who find themselves orphaned after a car crash kills their parents. Ponyboy, the narrator, is almost 14. He, along with older brothers Darrel and Sodapop, form a tight-knit bond with other kids from the wrong side of the tracks, the so-called Greasers. The story is anchored around the Greasers conflict with the Socials, or Socs, who are the “haves”:  think letter jackets, nice cars and pretty girlfriends.

What made it revolutionary is that Hinton deals with some pretty tough themes, unheard of in books for young people at the time, like drug addiction, class struggle, economic disparity and violence. The kids also smoke cigarettes copiously.

That Tanner, Krottinger and Chernicky chose to produce The Outsiders was a careful calculation, although the Tanninger process for selecting projects feels organic. How, precisely, do they choose what to work on and what to pass? Each person brings forward ideas, and as Chernicky says, because there are three of them, there’s always a tie breaker.

“First and foremost, the three of us are great friends,” Krottinger says. “I have the great pleasure of having been introduced to Pat by my husband, Ryan. Pat and Ryan have known each other for going on 20 years.”

“We really need to see, understand and believe that our projects are meant for a general audience,” Tanner says. The story must be approachable for most people to pass muster for Krottinger, Chernicky and Tanner. The team isn’t swayed by big names or the razzle-dazzle of Broadway.

Chernicky, a business impresario, concurs. “When I first started investing with Jay and Ryan, I looked at it as a contribution to the arts, because you have to be able to walk away from every investment you make.” She invested in every production that

Krottinger and Tanner did, and soon came to a realization. “Even with a couple that didn’t do well, I still ended up making a good return, over 20 percent.” They decided that Pat would join Tanninger Entertainment and start a fund, which is far more efficient than raising money one show at a time. Broadway shows bring about $1.7 billion (gross) to the American economy.

“I don’t know nearly as much about the entertainment business as they do. But I approached it from the business side. I always start at the bottom line and work my way up. That’s what I bring to the table, being able to tell people that this is really a legitimate investment, handled like any other managed fund that you would get from Wall Street, with any kind of a broker. It’s a huge business, and there’s a lot of dollars that go through it. And it’s just like anything else. If you spread it across multiple products, then you have a much better chance at succeeding,” Chernicky says.

“We don’t want to be in a scenario where we’re taking people’s investments, just for the sake of saying we were really fortunate enough to work with a big name,” Tanner says. In other words, no one will care who was involved if the show tanks.

Fortunately, in the case of The Outsiders, the story is universally beloved, the cast is extraordinary and working with Jolie, the show’s lead producer, is the cherry on top. In fact, we can thank Jolie’s daughter Vivienne for enticing her mother into joining the project. She’s seen the show multiple times during its premiere at California’s La Jolla Playhouse and persuaded her mother to see it on closing night — and here we are.

The Luxiere List: The Tanninger Team

Pat Chernicky is a native Oklahoman, and an OSU alum. She is a force of nature. A CPA with an entrepreneurial spirit, she’s enjoyed a remarkable career. From 2009 through 2018, she served on the board of directors of Patriot Bank in key leadership roles, co-owned Tulsa’s WNBA basketball team, the Tulsa Shock, from 2009 through 2015, and last year joined the board of directors of Blue Sky Bank. She is principal and managing partner of TPC Studios, Tulsa’s only hybrid creativity firm dedicated to events and branding, and serves as managing partner of Endeavor Holdings, a commercial development firm. Endeavor’s properties include the former Swinney Hardware building in the heart of Tulsa’s Kendall-Whittier Square and commercial real estate in Downtown Tulsa. 

For nearly two decades, she has dedicated her time and resources to non-profit organizations including Philbrook Museum of Art, Alzheimer’s Association, Mental Health Association of Tulsa, Tulsa Area United Way, Tulsa CARES and the Tulsa Ballet. In 2016, the Tulsa CARES board of directors established the Patricia Chernicky Luminary Award to honor her lifetime achievements and dedication.

Jay Krottinger has produced entertainment for nearly a decade. His long-time passion for live entertainment started as a child, watching the Tony Awards and dreaming of one day becoming a Broadway orchestra conductor or stage director. His dreams quickly materialized as a producer, assisting in bringing to life some of Broadway’s blockbusters, now international hits. His participation as a producer has garnered multiple nominations, accolades and critical acclaim and he is now the recipient of the Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards. His civic involvement includes integral board positions with Theatre Tulsa as interim-artistic director and his alma mater’s advisory board for its college of fine arts and design, school of music. He was the first graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma’s School of Music to be recognized with a distinguished alumni award.

Ryan Jude Tanner,  an Illinois native, moved to Tulsa in 2003. In 2008, he co-founded IQ Surgical, an orthopedic healthcare firm; eight years later, he co-founded Neuro Dynamics, an ambulatory diagnostic electroencephalogram firm. Both firms are based in Tulsa. Tanninger Companies, of which Tanner is CEO, serves as the parent company. His civic and philanthropic work is his proudest achievement. He has served six terms on the board of Tulsa CARES, which delivers social services to people affected by HIV/AIDS. Tanner holds the singular distinction of serving as a board director, executive vice president, Red Ribbon Gala host and two-time chairman of the agency’s key fundraising event, Red Ribbon Gala. During his 12 years of service to the organization, he’s helped raise over $8 million in critical funds for the life-saving agency. He is a trustee at the Philbrook Museum of Art and a board director at the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, both in Tulsa.