The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will open Tryon Little Theater’s 2014/15 season with performances September 11-14 and 18-21 at TLT’s Workshop Theatre on S. Trade St. in Tryon. The Tony Award winning mini musical, which is laced with adult humor, ran for more than 1,100 performances at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre from 2005 to 2008.
“The show is very well written and quite funny,” director Donna Orzano said. “We are all familiar with the annual National Spelling Bee held each spring in Washington, DC. Well this show looks in on one of the hundreds of qualifying ‘bees’ held around the country, mixing humor and song with the tension and stress of the competitors.”
Music Director, Pam McNeil explained that the show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School where six quirky adolescents compete in a bee run by three equally quirky adults.
“An unusual aspect of the one act musical comedy is that four audience members are invited on stage to compete alongside the six ‘student spellers,’” McNeil explained. “Although these participants will be screened before the show starts there is no script and thus the ‘improv genie’ is released from the bottle.”
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, based on a book by Rachel Sheinkin with additional material provided by Jay Reiss.

– article submitted
by John Calure