Dates, Cities and Venues Announced for Spelling Bee Tour, La

The national tour of the Tony Award-winning William Finn musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is now set to pollinate America; dates and venues have been set for its previously-announced national tour.

Following the show's limited four-week engagement at Atlanta's ALLIANCE THEATRE, beginning August 23rd, the tour will fly to Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre (Sept. 19th-Oct. 1st), Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall (Oct. 31st-Nov. 5th), Minneapolis' State Theatre (Nov. 7th-12th), Cincinnati's Aronoff Center for the Arts (Nov. 14th-26th), the Orange County PAC in Costa Mesa, CA (Dec. 9th-31st), Portland's Keller Auditorium (Jan. 2nd-7th, 2007), Seattle's Paramount Theatre (Jan. 9th-14th), San Antonio's Majestic Theatre (Feb. 6th-11th), the Kentucky Center in Louisville, KY (Feb. 20th-25th), Fort Lauderdale's Broward Center for the Performing Arts (March 13th-17th), Tampa Bay's Carol Morsani Hall at TBPAC (March 27th-April 1st) and Orlando's Carr Performing Arts Centre (April 10th-15th). No casting has yet been announced, although the Broadway creative team is set to return.

Spelling Bee is a current hit at San Francisco's Post Street Theatre in its sitdown production, while another open-ended resident staging of the show will begin performances in Chicago at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place on March 28th.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opened on Broadway at Circle in the Square last April to rave reviews. The show, which was conceived by Rebecca Feldman, features music and lyrics by Tony Award-winner William Finn (Falsettos, Elegies) and a Tony Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin, with additional material by Jay Reiss.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee cast features Derrick Baskin as Mitch Mahoney, Deborah S. Craig as Marcy Park, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Leaf Coneybear, Josh Gad as William Barfee, Lisa Howard as Rona Lisa Peretti, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, Jose Llana as Chip Tolentino, Sarah Saltzberg as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre and Greg Stuhr as Douglas Panch.

The Broadway production performs at Circle in the Square (50th St., between Broadway & 8th) on the following schedule: Tuesdays at 7pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturday matinees at 2 PM; Sundays at 3 and 7:30 PM. Tickets are available through Telecharge at 212-239-6200 (or at www.telecharge.com), or at the Circle in the Square box office. For more information, visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com.