Home > THEATRE > The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

• SHARE
• Outlook
• ICAL
• PRINT
• Tell A Friend
• Feedback

• RSS

• Official Website
• Buy Tickets

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Presented by Playhouse on the Square at Playhouse on the Square

August 7-September 6, 2009

Avg. Event Rating (5.0 Stars):
Add Review/Comment | Read Reviews/Comments

This hilarious tale of overachiever's angst chronicles the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. Overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, these spellers learn that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser. Nominated for 6 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this charming show is an ingenious blend of simplicity and sophistication. Wall Street Journal.

ArtsMemphis Rants & Ravers Review

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is Fresh, Fun Musical Comedy by Linda Ostrow Schlesinger

“How do you make a musical out of a spelling bee?” my 10-year-old daughter and theatre companion asked me before show time. “I was as curious as she was but it didn’t take us long to find out.

Evidently, you take a successful non-musical play about a spelling bee, C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, conceived by Rebecca Feldman; add to it a brilliant albeit bizarre composer and lyricist, William Finn (Falsettos), and a witty book writer, Rachel Sheinkin (a former student of Finn’s at NYU); stir in an incredible cast of nine quirky characters, mix well and serve it up fresh each performance with four different volunteer audience participant spellers. The result is hysterical. When I wasn’t outright laughing, I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face during most of the performance.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee first appeared on Broadway in 2005 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It is the story of a group of eccentric adolescents trying to fit in, figure themselves out and please their parents all at the same time. They are all bright; some are overachievers; and some are just plain nerds. You wouldn’t think these weirdoes could sing, but you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

Olive Ostrovsky (Nicole Renée Hale) read an oversized dictionary on the toilet as a child and she spells her words into her hand. Other than that she seems to be the most normally behaved and dressed one of the bunch. Her mother is on a “spiritual quest” in India and her father is a no show at the Bee.

William Barfée (Pete Montgomery) has a rare mucous membrane disorder and he dramatically writes his words out with his foot. He has nerd written all over him, from his greasy messy hair and his half un-tucked white shirt and tie to his Bermuda shorts, knee-high socks and dress shoes. He is not only pathetically misunderstood but frustratingly mispronounced. Don’t tell anyone, but he has a crush on Olive.

Chip Tolentino (Stephen Andrew Parker), winner of the 24th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, proudly wears his Boy Scout uniform adorned with many badges but he wasn’t quite as prepared as a boy scout should be for the surprises of puberty.

Leaf Coneybear (David Ryan), second runner up in his district spelling bee, only made it to the Putnam County Bee because the winner and the first runner up were at the first runner up’s bat mitzvah. He makes his own clothes and looks like a superhero wannabe.

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Laura Stracko) is being raised by two fathers. She is very politically astute, dresses rather masculinely (except for the braided pigtails), speaks with a heavy lisp and writes her words out on her arm. One of her fathers tries to help her win by tripping up Barfée.

Marcy Park (Lili Thomas) is the stereotypical overachiever. She is of Asian descent, wears a red plaid parochial school uniform, speaks six languages, is a talented musician, sleeps three hours a night, hides in the bathroom cabinet, is not allowed to cry and is tired of being too smart.

The entire story takes place in a junior high school gymnasium. The barebones set consists of a welcome banner and several wall posters touting the Putnam County Possums, metal bleachers, the winner’s trophy and a desk and two chairs for the peculiar yet charming educators running the Bee—Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Michael Gravois) and teacher and one time spelling bee champion Rona Lisa Peretti (Jenny Odle Madden), who relives her proudest moment in the opening scene.

One other chair on the set is occupied by the spellers’ “comforter,” Mitch Mahoney (Thomas “TeKay King), a burly black man who is doing community service at the school as part of his parole. He lovingly sends each loser off with a bear hug and a juice pack. Equally as comforting as his hug is his voice, which he gets to show off in his number, “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor.”

Some of the funniest lines in the show are delivered impeccably by Panch (Gravois) who announces the words, their definitions and uses them in outlandish sentences. For example, Panch uses this sentence to illustrate the word Fandango: “I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche will you do the Fandango?” (lyrics from “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen).

Director and co-choreographer Dave Landis has added even more spice and amusement to Playhouse’s production of the already hilarious script by inserting some local humor. For example, at one point Miss Parks states, “This spelling bee is more useless than the Pyramid Arena.” In another one of his sentence usages Panch says, “Put down that phylactery, we go to Bellevue.”

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a much needed breath of fresh musical comedy to lift your spirits in these harsh economic times. If I had to sum it up in one word, I’d say d-e-l-e-c-t-a-b-l-e!

One word of caution to parents: Although grade-school aged children will be amused by this play, there are several sexual innuendos. Most of them flew right over my daughter’s head, but if you think you might feel squeamish with your children at your side during the obviously sexual number “My Unfortunate Erection,” then leave them at home for this Spelling Bee.