The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

We walked in to the auditorium for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (TAPCSB) and found that this production by Whitworth AMDS was going to be played pretty much in the round - very exciting for both cast and audience because there is absolutely nowhere to hide. The set never altered throughout but characters were brought into private moments via the lighting by Connor O`Neill and Geraldine Hinchliffe. The Set and Props by Paul Wynn, Lisa O`Neill, Brian O`Neill and George Greenwood were very fitting. It felt very much that it was an American high school gymnasium with red seated bleachers, American waving flags on the table, table frills in all American colours and various pennants hanging down. The red, white and blue colour theme kept it all very cohesive and made it an intimate space.

The band, led by Musical Director Gemma Price, were on a slightly raised space right at the back of the usual stage area behind the hanging pennants. They were in fine form, harmonies could be heard within the songs and the sound between vocals and the band was nicely balanced. Sound by Mash Audiovisual was good with no gremlins or crackles, dialogue was heard clearly with no delays for mic on. The lighting was sympathetic to the scenes - I love at Whitworth AMDS`S performance space that a true black with just a spotlight can be done without too much light fallout – this was used in this production to a good end. Costumes  by Jenny Kelly and Gina Wilson were very fitting to the production, each performers characterisation was echoed perfectly down to the last button. Emma Bradburn was the choreographer for this production, she brought out some great energy and youthful exuberance while still maintaining a firm beginning, middle and end.

The cast as a whole were very strong and believable, Mark Rosenthal as Director did a great job of helping them all find their inner child and pretty much let it run riot in some cases. As an audience member I found myself at times throughout the production wanting to give each “child” a hug and tell them it would all be ok, they really made me believe in their characterisations – Well done!  The comedic deliverance from both Dan Fielden (Leaf Coneybear) and Chip Toletino  (Ade Godding)  was excellent - their timing was spot on. We (the audience) could relate to all  these children because we have seen them or been them! Megan Wood (Olive Ostrovsky) gave such a raw, stripped away performance - her vocals were great, her emotional delivery was beautiful, she has such an expressive face. On the performance that I attended Director Mark Rosenthal played Douglas Panch , he gave a strong, comedic, emotional performance he had some great chemistry with Angela Mayall (Rona Peretti). The final friendship between Olive Ostrovsky (Megan Wood) and William Barfee (Simon Ibison) was played out beautifully, both actors took their time and used facial and body expressions as well as words .

Both myself and my guest enjoyed the production, thank you for inviting me, I will see you all again soon.

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