Barrett Foa to Replace Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Spelling Bee

Avenue Q star Barrett Foa is joining the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He will begin performances as Leaf Coneybear on July 25, two days after original star Jesse Tyler Ferguson departs. Ferguson is leaving the musical to begin filming the CBS series The Class, which will premiere in the fall.

Foa currently stars on Broadway in Avenue Q, providing voices for the Princeton and Rod puppets. He appeared in the original cast of Mamma Mia! on Broadway and played Jesus in the 2000 off-Broadway revival of Godspell. His other credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Hartford Stage and the Shakespeare Theatre and Camelot at Paper Mill Playhouse.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will continue to star Derrick Baskin as Mitch Mahoney, Deborah S. Craig as Marcy Park, Josh Gad as William Barfee, Lisa Howard as Rona Lisa Peretti, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, Jose Llana as Chip Tolentino, Sarah Saltzberg as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre and Greg Stuhr as Douglas Panch.