Leana Rae Concepcion has joined Kennedy Center's upcoming production of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, set to play the D.C. venue October 11-20 in their Eisenhower Theater as part of the Broadway Center Stage series.
Concepcion will play Marcy Park. She's stepping in for the previously announced Anna Zavelson, who has departed the production to make her Broadway debut in The Notebook as Younger Allie.
She joins a previously announced cast including Philippe Arroyo (& Juliet) as Chip Tolentino, Beanie Feldstein (Funny Girl) as Logan Schwartzandgrubenierre, Noah Galvin (Dear Evan Hansen) as Leaf Coneybear, Alex Joseph Grayson (Parade) as Mitch Mahoney, Taran Killam (SNL, Spamalot) as Vice Principal Douglas Panch, Kevin McHale (Glee) as William Barfee, Tony winner Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly Akimbo) as Rona Lisa Peretti, and Nina White (Kimberly Akimbo) as Olive Ostrovsky. Casting is by Geoff Josselson.
The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2005 after an Off-Broadway run, features a Tony-winning book by Sheinkin (adapted from a play by Rebecca Feldman) and music and lyrics by two-time Tony winner Finn. The work is set at a fictional middle school spelling bee, where a lovable band of misfits—plus a few lucky audience members—assemble to duke it out on their knowledge of word spellings and languages of origin. The show was a Best Musical nominee at the 2005 Tony Awards, winning for Sheinkin's book and original cast member Dan Fogler's featured performance.
Danny Mefford (Kimberly Akimbo) is directing and choreographing, with Roberto Sinha serving as music director. The production will feature scenic design by Paul Tate dePoo III, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by David Weiner, and sound design by Haley Parcher. Matthew Lacey will serve as production stage manager.
This production is being licensed by Music Theatre International.
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