North Coast Rep's SPELLING BEE Closes, 8/14

North Coast Repertory Theatre is proud to present The San Diego Premiere of a two-time Tony Award winning musical. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman, directed by Rick Simas.

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Some mature content. Recommended for audiences 13 and up.

"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.

The Cast of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee includes:
The Adults
Melinda Gilb* as Rona Lisa Peretti
Phil Johnson* as Douglas Panch
Robert Barry Fleming* as Mitch Mahoney
The Spellers
Brandon Joel Maier as Chip Tolentino
Sarah Errington as Logainne Schwarzandgrubenierre
Jacob Caltrider as Leaf Coneybear
Omri Schein* as William Barfee
Cashae Monya as Marcy Parks
Nicole Werner* as Olive Ostrovsky
The Musicians
Steven Withers is Musical Director/Keyboards
Matt Best on Woodwinds
Tom Versen on Percussion
*Member of Actors' Equity Association

From Director Rick Simas on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee:
"While musicals are derived from many sources--classic books, notable plays, successful movies-perhaps none is more unique than the source for William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Finn's involvement began with a phone call from his friend, playwright Wendy Wasserstein, whose nanny was appearing in a comedy troupe called "The Farm." One of the improvised pieces that the group performed was called C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, which took as its subject matter children competing in a spelling bee. This, to Wasserstein, seemed like the perfect source material to be developed into a William Finn musical. The composer-lyricist wisely agreed, and with writer Rachel Sheinkin, he set about developing C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E into a full-length musical entertainment. The resulting work was first performed in a workshop production at the Barrington Stage Company in February 2004, where it was well received, leading to a more fully developed version that was produced by the company that summer under the title The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The show was a success, and Finn's longtime collaborator, writer-director James Lapine, was engaged to direct the New York production, which began previews at off-Broadway's Second Stage on January 11, 2005. It was a critical and commercial hit, ensuring its transfer to Broadway, where it opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre on May 2, 2005, and ran for 1,136 performances.
I first saw this charmingly quirky show off-Broadway on a snowy afternoon in February 2005. I immediately fell in love with its nerdy characters, offbeat score, and the ingenious way that the creators used the audience to draw them into the competition. I hoped one day to direct a production of this wonderful little show and am thrilled to have the opportunity to do so here at North Coast Repertory Theatre, a perfect venue for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

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.

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 ten years including: New York Fringe Festival (Best of Fringe '98), Soho Rep, Adobe Theatre, New Dramatists, Mabou Mines and various downtown venues.

Rick Simas (Director) North Coast Repertory Theatre: The Fantasticks, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Big Bang and I Love You Because. Previously, he directed Good News; No, No, Nanette; Promises, Promises and the West Coast premiere of Smile, which collectively won 13 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards. Other directing credits include the West Coast premiere of Goblin Market at UC Berkeley, and the East Coast premiere of The Death of Meyerhold at the Studio Theatre. At San Diego State University, he directed Triumph of Love, Bat Boy, Honk! and Zombie Prom, which collectively won 8 Patté Awards. At SDSU, he also directed the San Diego premieres of A New Brain and The Musical of Musicals, and the Southern California premiere of A Man of No Importance. At the Poway Center for the Arts, he directed Master Class; at Diversionary Theatre, the San Diego premiere of When Pigs Fly; and at the Old Globe Theatre, he assisted Tina Landau on the West Coast premiere of Floyd Collins. At the University of Judaism, he directed Jerry Herman's Milk and Honey, and created a series of successful cabarets and concerts, including From Berlin to Brooks: How Jews Made Broadway; Berlin, Bernstein and Bock: Boychiks on Broadway and Richard Rodgers: A Centennial Celebration. Rick holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from UC Berkeley and has been a faculty member of The American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York. For the past 18 years, he has taught in San Diego State University's MFA Musical Theatre Program-currently the only such graduate program of its kind in the country. He thanks David Ellenstein; the talented cast, staff, musicians and crew of Spelling Bee, and everyone at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

 

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