25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

One of the 'Americanisms' not to cross the Atlantic is the phenomenon of the High School 'Spelling Bee', in which school children compete in spelling competitions at local level and onward to National finals - stressful for both the pupils and the pushy parents!  The '25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee', from an original idea by Rebecca Feldman, music and lyrics by William Flynn, book by Rachel Sheinkin and directed for the Broadway stage by James Lapine, has now been opened up to the amateur theatre - and what fun they are having with it! This production, presented by this very talented group,made the most of the witty, clever score and libretto, in the Studio of the Carriageworks. This versatile space, seating about 60, means that the audience becomes 'up-close and personal' with the actors - and what a colourful, dysfunctional set of spellers they gave us! Eleven remarkable actors, each a principal in their own right - some doubling up as secondary characters - sang and 'spelt' their hearts out to us, in a way, slightly reminiscent of 'A Chorus Line', where the characters are eliminated one by one to reveal the winner - in this case, a rather 'nerdy boy' with a nasal problem!! The adult actors realistically played young pupils and with 'Vice-Principal Panch', 'Rona', the compere and scary 'Mitch', the ex-con, as grown-ups, we were guided through the competition with hilarious results. Sara Case, the Director, must receive full marks for directing her cast in a relatively small space that did not seem crowded. Jonathan Drummond, Musical Director, supported the cast with sympathetic accompaniment for two keyboards, clarinet and tenor saxophone at just the right level. The well designed, simple set worked really well. Costumes, hair and make-up were well thought out to reflect the different characters. This tight-knit group are always well supported by the main society, which is plain to see - it makes for such a happy atmosphere when coming into the theatre. I must make  mention of the fact that four volunteers from the audience are called up in the first act to participate in the first round of the 'competition' - this made for added hilarity. Sincere congratulations to the entire company for a excellent production and a  wonderful evening's entertainment.

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