Utah’s Premier Professional Theatre in Residence at the University of Utah

September 12 – 22, 2014

Music and Lyrics by William Finn 

Book by Rachel Sheinkin 

Conceived by Rebecca Feldman

Additional Material by Jay Reiss

Winner of 2 Tony Awards! Can you spell irresistible?

“That’s precisely the word for the lovably inconsequential, entirely adorable new musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”—The New York Times

A hilarious tale of high school-aged overachievers, their hopes, their dreams, and their angst as they compete for a slot in the National Spelling Bee. Overseen by adults still stuck in adolescence themselves, they sing their stories, utilize unique spelling techniques and learn that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser.

Important Dates

Monday–Thursday 7:00 PM
Friday & Saturday 7:30 PM
Saturday 2:00 PM

ASL-interpreted performance: Saturday, October 7th @ 2 PM

Overview

Cast

MFDriggsNEW
JHoffman
EPinnick
KSparks
JTalbott
STyo
EWalton
AArcher
EGroves
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Creative Team

KAREN AZENBERG (Director) This marks Karen’s third season as Artistic Director here at PTC. Last season she directed Something’s Afoot, A Few Good Men and Sweet Charity. In previous seasons she has directed Next to Normal (regional premiere),Rent and Miss Saigon, and she created the musical staging for the record-breaking 2007 production of Les Misérables. Originally from New York, her work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92ND St. Y), Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson), Prom Queens Unchained, and choreography for Richard Greenberg’s The Dazzle (Roundabout). Other credits include national tours of Carousel and Brigadoon, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Regional Theatre Premiere at Geva), West Side Story (over 15 productions; Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Choreography), A Christmas Memory (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and Same Time Next Year (Indiana Repertory Theatre). This summer she choreographed Mary Poppins for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Karen is on the board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and is a past president of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.


HELEN GREGORY (Music Director) is returning to conduct her 4th production for Pioneer Theatre Company (!) and considers herself lucky to be able to work at a great theatre doing something she loves. Thanks to Karen Azenberg for making my job delightfully fun and to Dan Pelzig for his inspiration and laughs. Many thanks to you, our audiences, for your support of live theatre. Off-Broadway credits include: New York Theatre Workshop, WPA, The Vineyard, Public Theatre, La Mama E.T.C. Regional theatres: Maltz-Jupiter Theatre (received 9 Carbonell nominations; Winner 2011 for Crazy For You), Asolo Repertory Theatre (Winner Sarasota Magazine Theatre Awards 2009 – Best Musical Direction, Barnum), The Alliance Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Human Race Theatre Company, New Jersey Repertory Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse and The Hangar Theatre. Helen lives in Durango, CO. To Mom: Thanks for paying for my many years of piano lessons and for not insisting I learn how to type.


DANIEL PELZIG (Choreographer) Broadway: 33 VariationsA Year With Frog and Toad. Off-Broadway: New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre, City Center Encores! As a director and choreographer for opera, theatre and ballet, his most recent credits include Carousel at the Glimmerglass Festival, The Figaro Plays at the McCarter, Private Lives at Shakespeare Theatre, Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala and Die Fledermaus at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera.  Regional: Sweeney Todd (Kennedy Center); My Fair Lady (Arena Stage, Shaw Festival); Measure for Measure, CandideThe Dog in theMangerPericles, Twelfth NightAs You Like It (Shakespeare Theatre); Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, Into the Woods (Alliance); The Winter’s Tale (Guthrie); Company, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore (Huntington Theatre); West Side Story (Kilden Theatre, Norway). Opera: Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Ft. Worth Opera and Seattle Opera. www.dannypelzig.com


DANIEL MEEKER (Set Designer) is happy to be working with Karen Azenberg again on his Pioneer Theatre Company debut. Recent credits: Portland Center Stage–Dan designed the set for The People’s Republic of Portland and Red (Drammy Award), the lighting for Twist Your Dickens and I Love to Eat, and the set and lighting for LIZZIE, The Last Five YearsBo-NitaThe Mountaintop,The Real Americans and Mike’s Incredible Indian Adventure; Lead Lighting designer for the Pickathon Festival, an independent annual music festival in Happy Valley Oregon with performances on seven stages; Portland Playhouse–set and lighting design for The Light in the PiazzaDetroitMother Teresa is DeadThe Huntsmen and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Oregon Children’s Theater–set design for Fancy Nancy and The Stinky Cheese Man. Upcoming projects include: Typographer’s Dream and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Portland Center Stage, The Other Place at Portland Playhouse and Ramona Quimbyfor Oregon Children’s Theatre. Daniel is a member of the faculty of Portland State University. He is a graduate of Ithaca College and the Yale School of Drama and a member of United Scenic Artists.


GREGORY GALE (Costume Designer) Broadway: Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner, Tony Award Nomination, Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination. Also seen on PBS Great Performances; ArcadiaRock of Ages, Tony Award Nomination. Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination; The Wedding Singer, Drama Desk Nomination; Urinetown, Lucille Lortel Nomination; Band in Berlin. Off-Broadway: The Voysey Inheritance, Lucille Lortel Award. Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination (Atlantic); The Milliner, Lucille Lortel Nomination (CSC);The Third Story, Henry Hewes Design Award Nomination (MTC); Fairycakes by Douglas Carter Beane, world premiere (AADA & Scranton Shakespeare); The Tribute Artist (Primary Stages);Bunnicula (Theatre Works); Now. Here. This. (Vineyard); Mary Stuart, The Infernal Machine, Night of the Tribades, The Stronger, The Prince of Homburg (Jean Cocteau). Pig Farm, The Dazzle (Roundabout); Rope (Zipper); Country Club, Drama Desk Nomination, The Torch-Bearers, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, As Thousands Cheer, The Downtown Plays, The Dark Kalamazoo, Free to be You and Me, Rude Entertainment (Drama Dept.).  US Tours: Rock of Ages (plus Toronto, Australia and the West End); Urinetown (and Toronto); Oh, Figaro! (National Theatre of the Deaf). Special Events: Sex and the City DVD Release Party (Paradigm Shift Worldwide); Papal Mass at Yankee Stadium (Opening Ceremony); FIFA World Conference 2009 (Opening Ceremony); Chocolate Fashion Show, also seen on Food Networks’ “Will Work for Food”. Irene Sharaff Young Master Award.


MICHAEL GILLIAM (Lighting Designer) Broadway credits include: Bonnie and ClydeBrooklyn,Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. West End credits: Gershwin Alone. Off-Broadway: Mr. Joy,Striking 12Blue, End of the World Party, Zooman and the Sign and Menopause The Musical. National tours include Peter PanBrooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River. Regional: Arena Stage, The Globe Theatres, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory, The Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Prince Music Theatre, Denver Center and Arizona Theatre Company.  Awards: Los Angeles Ovation Award, Drama-Logue Award, Garland Award and the 1999 Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.


JOSHUA C. HIGHT (Sound Designer) A Graduate With Distinction of London’s Alchemea College of Audio Engineering, Joshua comes to us with many years of experience in professional audio systems repair and design, and has established himself as an exceptional live sound engineer in both London and Salt Lake City. Joshua is looking forward to a successful second season working in theater design with PTC. His other projects of note include working with Sommerset House for the 2012 Olympic Games, and PTC’s Elf: The Musical, A Few Good Men, Much Ado About Nothing, Deathtrap and Sweet Charity.


AMANDA FRENCH (Hair and Makeup Designer) has been a Makeup and Hair Designer for 25 years. She has worked for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, The Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas at Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can also be seen in The Costume Technicians Handbook by Ingham and Covey, andWig Making and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre and Film by Ruskai and Lowery. She attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she studied with Hair and Makeup Designer Lenna Kaleva. She is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and a current University of Utah adjunct professor of wigs and makeup.

Media

Publicity

Study Guide

Content Advisory

Hello Dolly!

SYNOPSIS: Jerry Herman’s energetic Hello, Dolly! is a musical filled with charisma and heart. Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow, a matchmaker, and also a professional meddler –but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is to find someone for herself. Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Hello Dolly! is boisterous and charming from start to finish. Dolly Levi is one of the strongest and richest starring roles for a woman ever written for musical theatre.

LANGUAGE:  A few mild uses of  “damn.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING:  The characters sing of smoking although none is depicted, and wine and champagne are consumed during dinners.

SEX:  None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?  Hello, Dolly! is suitable for all ages.

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