Love is blind. Love can tell a million stories. Love's unkind, spiteful in a million ways.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Broadway previews of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee began at Circle in the Square Theatre on April 15, 2005, and the show opened May 2, 2005. It closed on January 20, 2008. The show transfered with the same cast as Second Stage, but some cast members were later replaced. The show has gone on to a national tour.
Spelling Bee has an official website.
Spelling Bee was recorded for a cast album on April 5, 2005 for Ghostlight Records is currently available from Amazon. Click the button to the right to get yours!
Spelling Bee at the Tony Awards! In 2005 Spelling Bee was nominated for 6, and won 2 Tonys!
Nominated For:
Best Musical
Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin) WINNER
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre (William Finn)
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler) WINNER
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical (Celia Keenan-Bolger)
Best Direction of a Musical (James Lapine)
| Character | Actor |
|
Mitch Mahoney |
Derrick Baskin |
| Marcy Park | Deborah S. Craig |
| Leaf Coneybear | Jesse Tyler Ferguson |
| William Barfee | Dan Folger |
| Rona Lisa Peretti | Lisa Howard |
| Olive Ostrovsky | Celia Keenan-Bolger |
| Chip Tolentino | Jose Llana |
| Douglas Panch | Jay Reiss |
| Logainne Schwartzandgurbenierre | Sarah Saltzberg |
| Song | Sung By |
|
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee |
Company |
| The Spelling Rules/ My Favorite Moment of the Bee | Panch, Rona, Spellers |
| My Friend, the Dictionary | Panch, Rona, Olive, and Company |
| The First Goodbye | Company |
| Pandemonium | Chip and Company |
| I'm Not That Smart | Leaf Coneybear |
| The Second Goodbye | Company |
| Magic Foot | Mr. Barfee and Company |
| Pandemonium (Reprise)/ My Favorite Moment of the Bee 2 | Chip, Mitch, Rona, and Company |
| Why We Like Spelling* | Spellers |
| Prayer of the Comfort Counselor | Mitch and Company |
| My Unfortunate Erection (Chip's Lament) | Chip |
| Woe Is Me | Schwarzy, Schwarzy's Dads, and Company |
| I'm Not That Smart (Reprise) | Coneybear |
| I Speak Six Languages | Marcy and Girls |
| The I Love You Song | Olive, Rona as Olive's Mom, Mitch as Olive's Dad |
| Woe Is Me (Reprise) | Schwarzy and Company |
| My Favorite Moment of the Bee 3/ Second | Rona, Olive, Barfee, and Company |
| Finale | Company |
| The Last Goodbye | Company |
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee played at Second Stage Theatre in New York City from January 11 – March 20, 2005.
Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Conceived by Rebecca Feldman
Directed by James Lapine
January 11 – March 6
The cast for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Second Stage included Jose Llana (Flower Drum Song), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (On the Town), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Summer of 42, The Light in the Piazza), Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Jay Reiss and Sarah Saltzberg.
The technical crew was as follows:
Choreography: Dan Knechtges
Musical direction: Vadim Feichtner
Orchestrations: Michael Starobin
Scenic design: Beowulf Boritt
Costumes: Jennifer Caprio
Lighting: Natasha Katz
Sound: Dan Moses Schreier
Stage manager: Andrea Testani
For photos of cast members and others involved with the show, including Bill Finn, see Playbill news.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - was in workshop at Massachusetts' Barrington Stage Co. from Feb 6 - 15, 2004. An earlier version was seen at Present Company Theatorium in NY. The finished product was shown July 7-25, 2004.
More info from Playbill News
More info from Playbill News
Read a review by Gail M. Burns
