- Performances: 1,1366.
- Open / Close: May 2, 2005 – January 20, 2008
- Theater: Alvin Theatre.
- Tony Awards: With six nominations and 2 wins, “Spelling Bee” snuck into Tony Award consideration at the comparative last minute, being one of the last shows to open in the 2004-05 season. It did amazingly well against a stacked line-up of competition, including “Lights in the Piazza,” “Spamalot,” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Best Featured Actor in a Musical winner Fogler has gone on to work regularly in film; Best Book winner, Rachel Sheinkin, has been involved in some intriguing projects including a show called “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” that ran in Los Angeles.
- Fun Fact: The actress Sarah Saltzberg worked as a nanny for Wendy Wasserstein. Wasserstein saw the improv play “C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E” that Saltzberg was working on and encouraged William Finn to see it as well. He was ultimately instrumental in turning the improv show into the full-length musical.
Podcast
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is responsible for Mark Zuckerberg. Don’t believe me? Listen as accomplished actor, director and video wizard Matt Polson and I wander around in nerd culture for a while, discussing this seminal musical. More than any show before or since, “Spelling Bee” demonstrated the unique attractions of live theater: with intense audience interaction and ad-libs aplenty, every performance was truly unique and you never knew what would unfold on any given night.
Matt shares behind-the-scenes remembrances of how this show challenged him as an actor and makes the case that, in terms of audience response, this may be one of the best musicals ever.