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Spelling Bee to Have 2006 Sitdown Production in Chicago?

By: Oct. 07, 2005
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The Chicago Sun-Times reports that an announcement is expected on Monday for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to have a sitdown production in the city. The show, to be produced by Broadway in Chicago, is expected to be leasing the 550-seat Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place.

Starring Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana and Sarah Saltzberg in addition to Reiss, the show boasts music and lyrics by Finn (Falsettos, A New Brain), and a Tony Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin. Conceived by Rebecca Feldman and directed by James Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, Falsettos), the show (which was nominated for a 2005 Best Musical Tony) has broken all house records at Circle in the Square Theatre (50th St., between Broadway and 8th) and plays to sold-out audiences each week. In addition to Sheinkin, Fogler (who plays William Barfee) received a Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical.

In the show, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser. A cast album is available on Ghostlight Records.






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