Simard — who will play Rona Lisa Peretti — first told Playbill.com about her casting in the production July 6. The actress has appeared in the original Off-Broadway casts of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Thing About Men and Forbidden Broadway S.V.U. as well as Dr. Sex.
Joining her in the cast will be Katie Boren (Broadway's ... Spelling Bee, Miss Saigon national tour) as Marcy Park, Miguel Cervantes as Chip Tolentino, Alan H. Green (Play On and national tours of Swing, Smokey Joe's Café) as Mitch Mahoney, James Kall (By Jeeves and Mamma Mia, Fiddler on the Roof tours) as Douglas Panch, Eric Peterson (regional runs of Hair, Oliver!) as William Barfee, Sarah Stiles (Broadway ...Spelling Bee and the world premiere musical of Vanities) as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, Lauren Worsham (regionally in Bat Boy, She Loves Me, Candide) as Olive Ostrovsky and Michael Zahler as Leaf Coneybear.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee pits 10 contestants (six actors, four audience members) against each other in a battle for the championship of the local spelling competition.
Cities slated to see the bee include:
The original Broadway creative team will return for the Atlanta production and national tour. They include Beowulf Boritt (scenic), Jennifer Caprio (costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting) and Dan Moses Schreier (sound). Dan Knechtges provides choreography. Jodie Moore joins as music director.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee earned six Tony Award nominations including Best Score, Best Book, Best Direction, Best Featured Actor (Dan Fogler) and Featured Actress (Celia Keenan-Bolger) as well as for the top prize of Best Musical. Fogler and book writer Sheinkin took home awards for their work.
For more information on the musical, visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com.