One Audience Member to Join Broadway Stars at "Bee" 3/18

This Sunday, March 18 at 7:30 pm, one lucky audience volunteer will share the stage and match spelling acumen (that's right - A-C-U-M-E-N) with three Broadway stars -- Tony Award nominee RAUL ESPARZA (Company) and Tony Award-winners Lea Salonga (Les Miserables) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (Man of LaMancha) -- at the first ever "Broadway Night at the Bee" at the hit musical THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE.

A hilariously hip musical comedy, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY 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.

Raul Esparza is currently starring in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival Company. His other Broadway credits include Taboo (Tony nom., Drama Desk Award, Best Featured Actor); Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang; Cabaret; Rocky Horror Show (Theatre World Award), and off-Broadway's The Normal Heart; Comedians; tick, tick, BOOM! (OBIE Award, Drama Desk nom.). Mr. Esparza was also seen in the national tour of Evita (Joseph Jefferson Nom) and the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration's stagings of Sunday in the Park with George (Helen Hayes nom.) and Merrily We Roll Along.

Lea Salonga recently made a return to Broadway as Fantine in the critically acclaimed revival of Les Miserables. She burst onto the international scene as Kim in the West End and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, for which she won the 1990 Olivier Award and 1991 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards. She has also played Eponine in Les Misérables on Broadway, the West End and in the 10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. At the Mark Taper Forum she created the role of Mei-Li in Flower Drum Song, a role she then reprised on Broadway.

Brian Stokes Mitchell earned a Tony nomination for his performance in the title role of Man of La Mancha. He won the 2000 Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for his performance as Fred Graham/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate, and his other Broadway credits include lead roles in King Hedley II (Tony nom.); Ragtime (Tony nom.); Kiss of the Spider Woman; Jelly's Last Jam; Oh, Kay!; Mail and the City Center Encores! productions of Kismet, Do Re Mi and Carnival.

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. 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. Premium seating is available.

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