The origins of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee can be found in C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original improvisational play created by Rebecca Feldman and performed by The Farm in 2002. A New-York-based improvisational comedy troupe, you can read more about them here. In true Musical Theatre style, a series of nepotistic occurrances led to the formation of something bigger. Sarah Saltzberg, Wendy Wasserstein's weekend nanny, was in the original production of C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, and Wasserstein recommended that William Finn see the show. Finn did go along and see it, and was inspired - he brought Rachel Sheinkin on board and they worked together with Feldman to transform C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E into a scripted full-length musical - Spelling Bee.

Spelling Bee was workshopped and developed at the Barrington Stage Company (BSC), Massachusetts, in two different stages. In February 2004, a workshop was held in which a first act and parts of a second act were created – this stage of the process was directed by Michael Barakiva and Feldman. The script was fleshed out and the show was given a fuller production in July 2004, directed by Feldman and Michael Unger. Dan Knechtges choreographed the workshop, summer productions, and the Broadway production and Dana Harrel produced both productions. Several cast members of C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, including Dan Fogler, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, were involved in the initial workshop, and joining them (at various points!) were Robb Sapp (later replaced by Jose Llana when Sapp moved on to Wicked), Dashiell Eaves (later replaced by Derrick Baskin), Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lisa Howard, and Deborah S. Craig were added to the cast, and a full script was created. Thus the Spelling Bee you see here tonight was birthed in its entirety.

The musical opened Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre on January 11, 2005, in previews, had its opening night on February 7, 2005, and closed on March 20, 2005. The production won several awards, among them Outstanding Musical at the 2005 Lucille Lortel Awards, and Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the 2005 Drama Desk Awards.

Spelling Bee later premiered on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre on April 15, 2005, and closed on January 20, 2008, after 1,136 performances and 21 previews. The director was James Lapine and the choreographer was Dan Knechtges. The show won Tony Awards for Best Book (Rachel Sheinkin) and Best Featured Actor (Dan Fogler).

The first international production was in Melbourne, Australia, from January 18, 2006, to February 25 at the Playhouse Arts Centre Melbourne. It starred Marina Prior as Rona, David Campbell as Chip, and Magda Szubanski as Barfée. The production, which won the 2006 Helpmann Award for Best Musical, was then presented by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2007. It again starred Prior and Szubanski, now joined by Lisa McCune as Olive. The Sydney season opened on June 11, 2007, and closed in August 2007.

2007 also saw the first translated production open in Seoul, South Korea, with music and dialogue in Korean but spelling words spelled in English. In September 2008, a German-language adaptation premiered as Der 25 Pattenser Buchstabierwettbewerb.

The musical made its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, beginning previews on February 11, 2011. It officially opened on February 21 and closed on April 2. Directed by Jamie Lloyd, the cast included Steve Pemberton as Panch, Ako Mitchell as Mitch and Katherine Kingsley as Rona.

The original Broadway cast of Spelling Bee reunited for a one-night only 10th anniversary concert at The Town Hall on July 6, 2015. All actors reprised their roles for the performance with the exception of Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, with Jenni Barber (who had previously played the role on Broadway) stepping into the role: Keenan-Bolger joined the cast for the concert's finale, performing Olive's monologue as she had a decade prior. The concert was organized in tribute to original production stage manager Andrea "Spook" Testani-Gordon, who passed away from cancer the previous November.

The fun doesn't end there, however! A song entitled "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Massacres the 12 Days of Christmas" was released in 2005 as part of Broadway’s Greatest Gifts, Volume 7: Carols For A Cure, sung by the cast. It reveals several different instances of events within the lives of the characters, such as Leaf being given 2 right socks named "Phil", Olive discussing various places her dad forgets her at, Barfée ruling his sea anemone circus from his basement, Panch's urine laced with Ritalin, Rona's most recent boyfriend breaking up with her, Mitch ending up and making calls from prison, Logainne explaining how her dads give her stomach ulcers, Chip playing with his little league baseball team, and Marcy receiving the 7th book of Moses (which Logainne repeatedly objects to, claiming there's only 5) while fighting with her understudy who was taking her place because "Deborah [S. Craig, the regular Marcy actress] hurt her knee".