John Cariani Joins BROADWAY BEE Lineup at The Cutting Room

Award-winning actor and playwright John Cariani (Something Rotten!) will be the Comfort Counselor for the first annual Broadway Bee, featuring Paige Davis (Chicago), Laura Michelle Kelly (Finding Neverland), Tony winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten), and Jose Llana (The King and I) in an adults only spelling bee, on Monday, May 9 at 7pm at The Cutting Room (44 E. 32nd St). Proceeds benefit Broadway Bound Kids, a NYC performing arts education organization.

The original creators of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Rebecca Feldman and Jay Reiss, will host the hilarious evening. Ten teams, each representing a Broadway show, are encouraged to pull out all the stops to correctly spell the words. Cheating is encouraged and drinking is allowed -- the more funds each team raises, the more they will get to cheat! As the Comfort Counselor, Cariani will console each Broadway speller and escort them off stage when they misspell a word.

Broadway cast members also participating in the Broadway Bee include Drew Gehling (Waitress), Karl Kenzler (Fiddler on the Roof), Joseph Medeiros (Matilda), Jonah Platt (Wicked), Lauryn Ciardullo (Aladdin), and Jessica Keenan Wynn (Beautiful).

For information on the Broadway Bee, to donate and purchase tickets go to bit.ly/BwayBee.

A limited number of Broadway Bee tickets are on sale now. If you make a donation on the Broadway Bee website first, you will be able to help your favorite Broadway star win the BEE and you will get a code for $15 off tickets. Tickets are available at bit.ly/BwayBee, (note: $20 food/bev minimum at event).

There will also be an online auction that includes JetBlue tickets, tickets to Something Rotten! with backstage tour, tickets to The Price Is Right and Let's Make A Deal with tour give by exec producer, VIP tickets to Late Night with Seth Meyers with backstage tour from writer, Blue Man Group tickets and backstage tour, and lunch with Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me). bit.ly/BwayBee

Since 2004 Broadway Bound Kids has been providing performing arts education opportunities to kids throughout NYC. Broadway Bound Kids offers school based performing arts residencies, community based workshops and summer programs, master classes with Broadway professionals, full scale musical productions, and trips to see Broadway shows. The goal is to ensure that all kids have access to the performing arts regardless of their financial resources. Broadway Bound Kids programs are designed to inspire and empower young lives through the arts by creating a nurturing and stress-free environment where kids will gain confidence, make friends, express themselves, and find a place where they feel a sense of belonging and acceptance.

To learn more about the educational organization, or to donate to Broadway Bound Kids: www.broadwayboundkids.net/broadway-bee. To find out more about The Spelling Bee Company's fundraisers go to www.thespellingbeecompany.com.