From The Director:
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which features music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin, opened on Broadway on May 2, 2005, following a sold-out Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre, where it began performances in January 2005 and officially closed on January 20, 2008 at Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway. The production was nominated for six 2005 Tony Awards and won two Tonys for Best Book of a Musical for Sheinkin and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Dan Fogler (William Barfee). Following the closing, the show also toured nationally.
In his New York Times Off-Broadway review of the show, Charles Isherwood wrote, “The musical pokes serious fun at its twitchy tween contestants -- in the loopy spirit of the movies "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show" -- but it pays affectionate tribute to these quirky young spelling titans, too. It sweetly, and just a little sentimentally, suggests that the youngsters' initiation into the rigors of competition is at once an excruciating rite of passage and a crucible for character-building.”
It is inside this character-building crucible where we have focused our production. In the pressure cooker of competition, deep struggles are revealed. Each speller has something they must overcome; parental pressures, shyness, economic hardship, absent parents, loneliness, and raging hormones to name a few. The spelling bee becomes the refinement fire where each character will be forced to “concentrate on winning” while facing their own battles of self-esteem and performance anxiety.
While laughing alongside the familiar adolescent combat zone, we also witness true character transformations. Some of these changes come at quite a cost. Through difficult confrontations, the spellers discover that the competition may not be the most important thing and that winning can indeed be found in losing. The adult characters see themselves mirrored in the eyes of the children around them and are also forced to confront their own pasts and future paths. Friendship rules the day and the definition of “Champion” is forever changed.
It is our hope that you will joyfully participate in our Bee today, whether on stage or off, and that you too will discover just being here is winning.
Misti B. Wills
