Original Bway Spelling Bee Cast to Reprise Roles in L.A.

Producer David Stone has announced that the acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, will come to Los Angeles starring its complete original Broadway cast, reunited for the first and only time since the production began two years ago in New York.

Presented by Broadway/L.A., Spelling Bee will have its Los Angeles premiere at the Wadsworth Theatre on the Veteran Administration Grounds in Brentwood, for a limited four-week engagement May 24 to June 17. The press opening will be Sunday evening, May 27 at 6:30 pm. One of the major hits of the past few seasons, Spelling Bee will enter its third smash year on Broadway on April 15.

Starring in Spelling Bee are the cast that originated these roles at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre, and then moved to Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre -- Derrick Baskin (Mitch Mahoney), Deborah S. Craig (Marcy Park), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Leaf Coneybear), Dan Fogler (William Barfee), Lisa Howard (Rona Lisa Peretti), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Olive Ostrovsky), Jose Llana (Chip Tolentino), Jay Reiss (Douglas Panch), and Sarah Saltzberg (Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre).

The production was nominated for six 2005 Tony® Awards including Best Musical and won two -- Dan Fogler won for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Rachel Sheinkin won for Best Book of a Musical. The production was also nominated for six 2005 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical and won three --- for Outstanding Ensemble Performance (which cited the entire company to perform in Los Angeles), Outstanding Book of a Musical by Ms. Sheinkin and Outstanding Director of a Musical by James Lapine. 

The show is directed by James Lapine, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods) who also directed the Broadway production. The musical, conceived by Rebecca Feldman, with additional material written by Jay Reiss, features music and lyrics by Tony Award-winner William Finn (Falsettos, Elegies, A New Brain) and a Tony Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin. The musical features scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Jennifer Caprio, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Dan Moses Schreier and choreography by Dan Knechtges.

In Spelling Bee, "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. This tuneful, offbeat and at times heartwarming show offers audience members the opportunity (strictly voluntary) to become part of the action as on-stage spellers," as described in press materials. The show is produced by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, and Patrick Catullo.

Tickets, which range in price from $28 - $83, will go on sale to the general public on Sunday, April 15 at 10am - exactly two years to the day since the musical's first Broadway performance. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at 213-365-3500 or 714-740-7878, or by visiting a Ticketmaster outlet (select Macy's and Wherehouse Music locations, and all Ritmo Latino stores).

Visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com or www.broadwayla.org for more information.