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The cast of mostly newcomers has remained largely the same, but director James Lapine helped get them in touch with their inner nerd. He told them to bring in pictures of themselves as kids, and he put them up in the rehearsal hall. "I could see who these people were at 11, 10 and 12," says Lapine. "It was so revealing. In an ineffable way, it helped the process." Finn once described the show as a "Survivor for nerds," but he means that in only the nicest way. "I know these people," he says. "I am one of these people. We all feel a little outside the mainstream sometimes. And these people have finally found where they feel comfortable."
Spelling Bee is quite comfortable in its 296-seat off-Broadway home, where it has been selling out since its early February opening, so there's the usual trepidation about the move to grander, Broadway digs. Producer David Stone insists that the quick transfer was done not to get in under the wire for the Tony nominations but to take advantage of the show's momentum. "The actors were getting so much attention--people clamoring to offer them things--the only way we were going to keep them together was to go quickly," he says. Two splashier Broadway musicals--Monty Python's Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels--have been getting most of the early Tony buzz. But Spelling Bee has some obvious similarities to another quirky off-Broadway show that came out of nowhere and last season won the Best Musical Tony: Avenue Q. Can you use upset in a sentence? --Reported by Amy Lennard Goehner