Last round of the Bee

MANILA, Philippines - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been nothing but a joy for us to stage (and re-stage). The charming and intimate musical has taken us from our home at the modern RCBC Plaza to the classic Victoria Theatre in Singapore where we tested to great success the universality of this musical.

And here we are once again back home at the RCBC Plaza ready for one last round of Spelling Bee. Spelling Bee centers around a fictional spelling bee in Putnam County, New York. Six kids in the throes of puberty face off in the battle of their lives. They compete against each other as well as members of the audience. Three adults help adjudicate the proceedings: A nostalgic former spelling bee winner, a mildly insane Vice Principal and the Official Comfort Counselor completing his community service to the state of New York.

Spelling Bee has a Tony Award winning book by Rachel Sheinkin and music and lyrics by Tony Award winner William Finn.

No two Spelling Bee shows will ever be alike, as Spelling Bee features “starring roles” each night for two volunteer audience members and two surprise celebrity guest spellers. Past celebrities who have surprised audiences at the Bee are KC Concepcion, Eugene Domingo, Cherie Gil, Sen. Chiz Escudero, Gina Alajar, Rachel Alejandro, Geneva Cruz, Christian Bautista, Erik Santos, Angel Aquino, Jett Pangan and Lea Salonga. To spice things up this time around, we will have a special one-night only R-rated performance on Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. featuring adult words and sentences guaranteed to illicit some delicious laughter.

Spelling Bee has also been one of those shows wherein everything has been ideal. We were able to cast the show with brilliant musical theater actors who through the course of the year have grown with each performance, we were able to gather an amazing creative team and musicians to help me create the fictional world of the spelling competition, we were able to invite our celebrity friends who were all good sports at spelling on stage, and we were able to bring in an audience who couldn’t get enough of the triumphs and tragedies of the six young spellers who made them laugh and broke their hearts each night. It has indeed been a very special journey for us.

And the journey would never have happened without the generous support of The Philippine STAR, our partner in staging our shows from the very beginning, Raymund Isaac, RCBC Plaza, Studio 23, MYX, Digipost, Crustasia, Red Crab Seafood Club, Yoshinoya, Mellow 94.7, Crossover 105.1, Blims Fine Furniture, GA Printing, The City of Makati and our loyal block buyers have all helped make this journey possible. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

We are thrilled to be able to offer audiences one last chance to see Spelling Bee. It is the perfect show for the holiday season and a great way to end our 10th anniversary. For those of us behind the curtains Spelling Bee is a show we will never tire of bringing to life as every night we see something different. But we also know that this will be the last of Spelling Bee for some time because we have just lined up our shows for 2010.

We have a very exciting 2010 season in store which we will officially announce soon, but right now we are thrilled to be able to spread some much needed holiday cheer with the final run of Spelling Bee. Come join us for an evening of music and laughter.

Spelling Bee runs from Dec. 4 to 13 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City.

For details, call 892-7078 or 840-1187.