AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Lisa Howard, Jose Llana etc.

Artist:Jose Llana, Lisa Howard, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sarah Saltzberg, Dan Fogler, Deborah S. Craig, Celia Keenan-Bolger

Song:The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Album:The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Original Broadway Cast Recording

Here's a quirky musical that ran on Broadway in 2005. It even won a couple of Tonys. Not surprisingly, it came from New York's improv comedy scene. A comedy troupe called The Farm were performing it and they invited songwriter William Finn to see it. It was thought that he could turn it into a full length musical. And that's how The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was born. The show reached New York in 2005 and ran on Broadway from Apr. 2005 to Jan. 2008. It was nominated for six Tonys and won two. One of the most unusual aspects of this show is audience participation. In this video clip from the 2005 Tony Awards broadcast, Al Sharpton is brought in to compete in the spelling bee. And they use an improv comic as the pronouncer for comedic effect. The song in the clip kicks off the show. So it would be different each night. The actors performing in this clip include Jose Llana, Lisa Howard, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sarah Saltzberg, Dan Fogler, Deborah S. Craig and Celia Keenan-Bolger. Fogler won a Tony. Lisa Howard played Siobhan in the 2012 film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. Celia Keenan-Bolger won a Tony for playing Scout Finch in the 2018 production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Though Dan Fogler won a Tony for this show, he has appeared mostly in comedy films like Balls of Fury and Good Luck Chuck. Sarah Saltzberg is mostly an improv comic who was part of the beginnings of this show. Jesse Tyler Ferguson is best known as Mitchell Pritchett in the sitcom Modern Family. He was nominated for five Emmys. Jose Llana is a Broadway performer. He was in the 2002 revival of Flower Drum Song. Here's a video of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee from the 2005 Tony Awards broadcast featuring Al Sharpton. His appearance got a great reaction from the audience.