San Francisco Spelling Bee to End Run September 3

The San Francisco sit-down production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is set to conclude its run at the Post Street Theatre on September 3rd; the show opened on March 1st.

At closing, the San Francisco Spelling Bee will have played 215 performances and 17 previews. "We are all thrilled that Spelling Bee had such a successful run here in the Bay Area. We could not have asked for a better reception, between the rave reviews from local critics and overwhelmingly positive response from audiences. We hope that future cities will be just as successful for the show," stated producer David Stone.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, based on Rachel Feldman's C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, features a score by William Finn and a Tony Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin (with additional material by Jay Reiss). It follows the life of "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."<>

The show stars Aaron J. Albano (Chip Tolentino), Stanley Bahorek (Leaf Coneybear), Jenni Barber (Olive Ostrovsky), Jim Cashman (Douglas Panch), Jared Gertner (William Barfee), James Monroe Iglehart (Mitch Mahoney), Sara Inbar (Logainne Schwartandgrubenierre), Greta Lee (Marcy Park), Betsy Wolfe (Rona Lisa Peretti).

"In The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 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 is currently in its second year on Broadway, where it stars Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lisa Howard, Jose Llana and more (Barrett Foa joins the cast as Leaf Coneybear on July 25th). A sit-down production of Spelling Bee is also currently playing in Chicago at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. A national touring production will be launched this fall, after the show plays Atlanta's ALLIANCE THEATRE from Auguest 23rd through September 17th.

The previously-announced "Adult Nights" of San Francisco's Spelling Bee will continue as planned: July 11th at 8 PM, July 23rd at 7 PM, Aug. 8th at 8 PM and Aug. 20th at 7 PM. Those under the age of 17 are not admitted to "Adult Night" performances, in which Spelling Bee's youngsters use words that are a little more off-color than usual.

The Post Street Theatre is located at 450 Post Street (between Powell and Mason St.). They are available by calling (415) 771-6900 or by visiting www.poststreettheatre.com. Visit www.spellingbeethemusical.com for more information.