Jay Reiss Returns for One Adults-Only Spelling Bee, Jan. 22

By: Jan. 17, 2006
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Jay Reiss, who departed the Broadway cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee last October, will return for one final performance this Sunday, January 22 at 7:30 PM, when he plays Vice Principal Douglas Panch (a role currently being played by Greg Stuhr) in the 'adults-only' version of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy.

The organizers of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee have scheduled three more of these "for-mature-audiences-only" performances of the Tony Award-winning new musical: Sunday, January 22 at 7:30pm; Sunday, February 5 at 7:30pm; and Sunday, March 5 at 7:30pm. Reiss will only return for the first of these three performances, "and this might very well be the last time the entire original Broadway cast performs together," according to press notes.

Reiss continues to write additional material for Spelling Bee, including definitions and comically unhelpful sentences used throughout the show. He explained the genesis for these special performances: "During rehearsals, I would occasionally cross the line a bit and use some material that was pretty filthy. The cast would crack up, and director James Lapine would say, 'That is so wrong.' In October, at the first 'adults-only' Bee, we used some of that material for the first time in front of an audience. People were suitably appalled, which pleased us greatly."

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee continues to be a hit at Circle in the Square, where it opened on May 2nd, 2005. In the musical, "six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser in this funny, tender and sardonic musical," state press notes.
 
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 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, Tony Award-winner Dan Fogler 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 Stuhr as Douglas Panch.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 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.

 

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