Auditions for THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Monday and Tuesday, March 13 & 14, at 6:30pm
Callbacks by invitation only Thursday – March 16, at 6:30 PM
Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Director, Heidi Schiller
Music Director, Darin Art
Prepare an excerpt of a song, not from the show. Bring sheet music or music-only accompaniment. No a cappella auditions. Acting auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Please come prepared to list all conflicts.
Performance dates are May 19-28, 2017
ABOUT THE SHOW:
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE is a hilarious tale of overachievers’ angst chronicling the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. The show’s Tony Awardwinning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time. Six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grownups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser
THE SPELLERS:
- Chip Tolentino, (tenor) is the reigning spelling champion, relatively athletic and social.
- Logainne Schwartzandgrubennier, (soprano) younger than most bee participants, is driven by internal and external pressure – but above all by a desire to win to make her two fathers proud.
- Leaf Coneybear, (bari-tenor) as a 2nd alternate, never expected to compete. Home-schooled, everything about this public bee is an adventure to him. Leaf doesn’t expect to win, but he finds absolutely everything incredibly amusing. His mother made him wear his protective helmet.
- William Barfee, (tenor) has a host of health problem and a lot to prove. He is the fat kid who became a bully to avoid being picked on, so friendship takes him by surprise.
- Marcy Park, (soprano/mezzo-soprano) is the ultimate over-achiever because she has never been given another option. A parochial school student, she knows she can beat the local competition..
- Olive Ostrovsky, (soprano) is a word lover. An only child with often-absent parents, Olive fills her rime reading the dictionary because the words bring her comfort. She starts enormously shy, and shyly blossoms over the course of the bee.
THE ADULTS:
- Rona Lisa Perretti, (soprano) Putnam’s long-time spelling bee hostess, a local realtor, and Champion of the 3rd annual Putman bee.
- Vice Principal Douglas Panch, (non-singing role) is stuck in his current job, endlessly awaiting a promotion that isn’t coming.
- Mitch Mahoney, (tenor) appears to be an odd choice as the bee’s “comfort counselor,” but it’s part of his community service assignment.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 