Season Information
09/10 Season
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The San Diego Premiere of a two time Tony Award winning musical.
By Rachel Sheinkin
Music and lyrics by William Finn
Directed by Rick Simas
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“Can you spell i-r-r-e-s-i-s-t-i-b-l-e? 'Spelling Bee' is riotously funny and remarkably ingenious. Gold stars all around," says the New York Times. Prepare to feel the angst of fidgety adolescents who prove that the only thing worse than being 13 is being 13 while attempting to correctly spell "pyrrhonism". This two time Tony Award winning hit musical celebrates the mania of competition as the funniest most lovable and sardonically nerdy contestants compete for the Spelling Bee title. Six wacky misfits with steely ambition strive to define themselves apart from their crazy families as they confront the pitfalls of puberty. Anyway you spell it, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE is side-splittingly F-U-N-N-Y. Some mature content. Recommended for audiences 13 and up.
Do you want to BEE part of the show?
For each performance 4 audience members will be specially selected to play a cameo role. If you are interested, please arrive a minimum of 30 minutes prior and look for the Sign-Up table at the theatre.
William Finn (Music and Lyrics) is the writer and composer of Falsettos, for which he received two Tony® Awards, Best Book of a Musical (with James Lapine) and Best Original Score. He has also written and composed In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, two Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, the Lucille Lortel Award, and Guggenheim Fellowship in Musical Composition). His most recent projects include Elegies, A Song Cycle (Lincoln Center) and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which ran on Broadway and has been produced nationally and internationally. Mr. Finn provided the music and lyrics for Ace Award-winning HBO cartoons and has written for Vogue. Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker. A graduate of Williams College where he was awarded the Hutchinson Fellowship for Musical Composition, Finn now teaches a weekly master class at the NYU Tisch Graduate Program in Musical Theatre Writing.
Rachel Sheinkin (Book) collaborated with William Finn and the company to adapt C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E into this musical (Tony®, Drama Desk awards). Other music theatre collaborations include Striking 12 (TheatreWorks, Palo Alto); Blood Drive (O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference) and Serenade (upcoming Baryshnikov Arts Center). She has been a Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellow and is currently an adjunct faculty member at NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Thanks to Rebecca Feldman et al. for this opportunity.
Rebecca Feldman (Conceived By) won a Lucille Lortel Award, Drama Desk and Tony® Nomination for Best Musical for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She directed its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in the summer of 2004. She conceived, directed and performed in C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, the play upon which The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is based, with her company The Farm. She has directed and performed in New York and regionally for the past 10 years including: New York Fringe Festival (Best of Fringe ’98), Soho Rep, Adobe Theatre, New Dramatists, Mabou Mines and various downtown venues.The Adults
Melinda Gilb* Rona Lisa Perettie
Phil Johnson* Douglas Panch
Robert Barry Fleming* Mitch Mahoney
The Spellers
Brandon Joel Maier Chip Tolentino
Sarah Errington Logainne Schwarzandgrubenierre
Jacob Caltrider Leaf Coneybear
Omri Schein* William Barfee
Cashae Monya Marcy Parks
Nicole Werner* Olive Ostrovsky
*Member of Actors' Equity Association
| Director Rick Simas | Light Designer Mike Buckley |
| Musical Director Steve Withers | Costume/Hair/Wig Designer Peter Herman |
| Choreographer Dave Massey | Sound Designer Chris Luessmann |
| Scenic Designer Marty Burnett | Sound Mixer Steve Negrete |
| Scenic Artist John Finkbiner | Props and Set Dressing Annie Bornhurst |
