Andrews & Hamilton to be Spelling Bee Guest Spellers, 1/30

Emmy, Grammy and Academy Award-winning actress Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton - both National Ambassadors for Kid's Night on Broadway - will join the gang at The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on stage as guest spellers at the Tuesday, January 30th 7:00 p.m. performance. 

Spelling Bee plays at The Circle in the Square Theatre (1633  Broadway).

Kids' Night on Broadway, an audience development program of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., where young people attend the theatre free of charge, takes place in New York on January 30 and 31.

An internationally recognized actress, singer and author, Andrews originally rose to fame for her legendary star turns in the original Broadway productions of My Fair Lady and Camelot.  She later became an American treasure when she created the title role of Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music on film. 

Hamilton is a founder of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY, where she is the theatre's director of education and programming for young audiences.  Together, Andrews and Hamilton have collaborated on a number of books, including The Great American Mousical, which underscores the important connection between young people and Broadway.

Spelling Bee is the Tony Award-winning musical with music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman and directed by James Lapine.  "A hilariously hip musical comedy, Spelling Bee features six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves,  learning that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser," according to production notes.

The Broadway production of Spelling Bee opened on May 2, 2005 before launching a national tour in September of 2006 and an open-ended engagement in Chicago in March of 2006.

Tickets for Spelling Bee are available through Telecharge, (212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com, or by visiting the Circle  in the Square Theatre box office (1633 Broadway).  Tickets prices are $95.00 and $50.00.

For more information, please visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com.

Visit www.kidsnightonbroadway.com for more on Kids Night on Broadway.

Photo - Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton