Ep 187: 20 YEARS of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
With special guest DAN KNECHTGES
Amazingly, this year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
In 2005, after an incredibly short development period, opened first off-Broadway at Second Stage Theater, and quickly moved to Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway. It was nominated for six Tony Awards and won two, including “Best Book of a Musical,” and the show would go on to run for 1,136 performances and be produced around the world.
In celebration of that anniversary, two new productions will open this fall. Off-Broadway at New World Stages, performances are scheduled to begin on November 27, and next week, on October 21, Spelling Bee will open at Theater Under the Stars in Houston, Texas, where it is directed and choreographed by my guest today, TUTS’s Artistic Director, Dan Knechtges. Not coincidentally, Knechtges made his Broadway debut as the choreographer of the original production, and as you will hear, he was actively involved in every stage of that musical’s development from its very first incarnation working closely with composer/lyricist William Finn, and director, James Lapine.
Knechtges’ other Broadway credits includes the choreography of Sondheim On Sondheim, the revival of 110 in the Shade, and Xanadu, for which he received a Tony Award nomination, and the direction and choreography of the musical Lysistrata Jones.
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