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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

October 22, 2012

The Drexel Players will present the very funny, charming Tony-Award winning musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, November 9th through the 18th at The Mandell Theater. The show is set at a fictional spelling bee at the Putnam Valley Middle School. Six eccentric preteens compete in the spelling bee, run by three less than mature adults.Four Audience members will also get a chance to test their spelling skills during the show. Spelling Bee runs weekends with Friday and Saturday night performances beginning at 8 PM and Sunday matinees at 2 PM.  Tickets are $15 or $5 with a Drexel ID.  Call the box office at 215-895-ARTS or visit www.drexelplayers.com to order or for more information.

The musical was based on C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original improvisational play developed by Rebecca Feldman and performed by the Farm, an improvisational comedy troupe. The Wall Street Journal has called it a “rarity of rarities, a super-smart show that is also a bona fide crowd pleaser.”  Professional actor Emily Kleimo will play the role of Rona Lisa Peretti.  The play will be the Drexel directorial debut for Theater Professor Bill Fennely. The Spelling Bee team includes Barrymore Award-winner Thom Weaver on lighting design, Nick Kourtides on sound design, Barrymore nominated choreographer Jenn Rose, set designer Ian Guzzone, and costume designer Lauren Perigard, with Drexel students working alongside in supportroles.

Bill Fennely’s work has been seen on Broadway, Off Broadway and regionallythroughout the United States. He was the Resident Director for the BroadwayNational Tour of the award-winning The Lion King, and was Associate Director for the world premiere of The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm, which moved to Broadway. He spent four seasons as a staff director with NewYork City Opera at Lincoln Center where he worked on over thirteen new productions including the Glimmerglass World Premiere, the NYC Premiere and the EMMY nominated PBS Great Performances Telecast of Central Park by Terrence McNally, Robert Beaser, Wendy Wasserstein, Deborah Drattell, Michael Torke and A.R. Gurney.