West End stars Darren Day and Niki Evans return to Worthing with the first UK tour of William Finn’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on October 30th at 7.30pm.
Darren Day, who is known to Worthing audiences for taking the role of Captain Hook in the pantomime version of Peter Pan in 2011, is most famous for his leading roles in West End and touring productions of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Summer Holiday and We Will Rock You as well as portraying Danny Houston in ITV’s Hollyoaks.
Niki Evans found fame on ITV’s X Factor and before performing as Mrs Johnstone in the West End and touring productions of Blood Brothers, which also visited Worthing in 2011, as well as starring as Paulette in Legally Blonde.
Spelling Bee centres on the lives of six quirky teenagers who have entered the ‘bee’, a competition which requires the contestants to spell a variety of words, usually with varying degrees of difficulty. The context is run by three equally as quirky grown-ups.
Darren will play Vice Principal Panch, a senior member of the judging panel who has recently returned to the competition after a five-year break with a fresh outlook on life as a result of his high-fibre diet and unrequited love for fellow judge and previous ‘bee’ champion Rona Lisa Peretti played by Niki.
The full cast includes Rhys Owen as Mitch Mahoney, Ellie Mason as Olive Ovstrokvsky, Thomas Mackley as William Barfee, Arina II as Marcy Park, Janette McManus as Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre, Ross Cobbald as Leaf Coneybear and Joshua Dowen as Chip Tolentino.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 2005 and won two of its six Tony Award nominations, including Best Book. Since then it has inspired a number of variations across the world including an Australian production, a US tour and its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in London.
The touring version of the musical is an up-scaled version of last year’s Edinburgh Festival sell-out, directed by Alex Howarth who returns to direct this production along with Lee Freeman as musical director and Kenn Oldfield as choreographer.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee can be seen at the Connaught Theatre, Union Place, Worthing. BN11 1LG on Wednesday October 30th at 7.30pm with tickets priced at £19.50, concessions £2 off, Friends of Worthing Theatres £15.50, students £10, on sale now from the box office on 01903 206 206 or online at www.worthingtheatres.co.uk