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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Shows · The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Six quirky adolescent overachievers compete in a county spelling bee, each battling their own insecurities and family pressures as they spell their way through increasingly impossible words. Between rounds, we learn their poignant backstories — an absent father, helicopter parents, a crush on a fellow speller — revealing that growing up is the hardest word to spell.

Opened
2005
Performances
Type
Musical
Era
Modern
Music: William FinnLyrics: William FinnBook: Rachel Sheinkin

Productions1 on Broadway

2005 Original Theatre not recorded. · James Lapine

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature9 passages

With young-looking adults playing the high-school aged contestants at The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, it was a take on the universal theme of adolescence. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p321

See also APPLAUSE; THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p193

Conor Donovan (Privilege), Dan Fogler (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Heather Goldenhersh (Doub), Carla Gugino (After the Fall), Jenn Harris (Modern Orthodox), Cheyenne Jackson (A// Shook Up), Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Tyler Maynard (Altar Boyz) book:theatre-world-2011-12-season-v-68-willis#p424

We celebrated our 1000th show with a fun party and a cake. We also had a rocking closing night party at The Harmony View. book:the-playbill-broadway-yearbook-june-2007-to-may-2008-viagas-robert-4th-annual-ed#p414

Neat Gifts: Our prop master, Owen, is not only a master of the props but also of the culinary art of baking! For Josh Gad’s happy trails he baked a beautiful loaf of bread in the shape of a foot! It was truly a magic foot that tasted unbelievable. And for Coco (Lisa Yuen) he baked a heart shaped cake that alternated ch… book:the-playbill-broadway-yearbook-third-annual-edition-viagas-robert-3rd-annual-ed-#p425

Evolved from an improvisational play, Spelling Bee workshopped and premiered at the Barrington Stage Company. It moved to the Second Stage Theatre off-Broadway in 2005 and transferred to Broadway three months later. book:a-history-of-the-american-musical-theatre-no-business-like-nathaniel-hurwitz-tay#p292

Passages naming this show, found by keyword across 178 books. Where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

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