San Francisco Spelling Bee Announces Final Weeks; Closing Sept. 3 | Playbill

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News San Francisco Spelling Bee Announces Final Weeks; Closing Sept. 3 The West Coast premiere staging of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in San Francisco will end its run at the Post Street Theatre Sept. 3.

The California run which debuted March 1 will end with the 7 PM performance, having played 215 performances and 17 previews.

"We are all thrilled that Spelling Bee had such a successful run here in the Bay Area," producer David Stone stated in a release. "We could not have asked for a better reception, between the rave reviews from local critics and overwhelmingly positive response from audiences. We hope that future cities will be just as successful for the show."

The San Francisco production, which marks the musical's first sit-down company outside New York, will still perform special "Adult Night" shows July 11 (8 PM), July 23 (7 PM), Aug. 8 (8 PM) and Aug. 20 (7 PM). As per a release "These performances contain adult language and situations. No one under 17 will be admitted."

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.

The cast of loveable misfit contestants and Bee staff are played by Aaron J. Albano (Wicked national tour, Bombay Dreams) as Chip Tolentino, Stanley Bahorek (Big River national tour, A Little Night Music) as Leaf Coneybear, Jenni Barber (Henry and Mudge, The High Life) as Olive Ostrovsky, Jim Cashman (The Groundlings company member) as Douglas Panch, Jared Gertner (Anatomy 1968, My Favorite Year) as William Barfee, James Monroe Iglehart (Showboat national tour, Memphis) as Mitch Mahoney, Sara Inbar (Mamma Mia!, Lizzie Borden) as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, Greta Lee (No Boundaries - NYMF) as Marcy Park and recent Broadway Spelling Bee addition Betsy Wolfe (A Wonderful Life) as Rona Lisa Peretti. Spelling Bee was based on C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original play created by Rebecca Feldman and the comedy troupe The Farm. Composer-lyricist William Finn provides the score to the musical incarnation with a book by librettist Rachel Sheinkin.

The musical 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.

Bee recouped its initial investment of $3.5 million 18 weeks after opening on Broadway. There is currently an open-ended run at Chicago's Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place and a run at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre (Aug. 23-Sept. 17) will precedes the show's national tour this fall.

Tickets to the San Francisco run at The Post Street Theatre, 450 Post Street (between Powell and Mason St.), are available by calling (415) 771-6900 or through www.poststreettheatre.com.

For more information on the musical, visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com.

 
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