The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

For a few years now this company’s main production in the depths of winter in the grandeur of York’s Theatre Royal has been followed by a summer production of a lesser known show in this smaller and more intimate venue.  Although this year’s choice was not completely unknown to me, it was more because of its rather cumbersome title than any familiarity with its content.

It is, as they say, exactly what it says on the tin: a spelling competition in a high school in a part of New York state.  As such the set is simple: a school hall bedecked with U.S. flags in which a number of contestants are tested on their spelling skills in competition for a rather large trophy. The six main contestants are a rather eclectic group for reasons we discover from their songs, a scenario reminiscent of that in “A Chorus Line”. 

Olive is shy and reserved, largely because of the frequent absences of her parents. Indeed, she still awaited the arrival of her father to pay the competition’s entrance fee. Hannah Shaw captured this character in a superb performance and her songs allowed her to use her excellent singing voice to the full.  In the course of the competition, she establishes a friendship with another competitor, William, whose technique involves spelling the words with his foot so as to visualise them before speaking the letters.  “Reversing the first vowels in Olive”, she tells him, “makes it I love”.  The two ultimately find themselves head-to-head in the final with each thinking they might let the other win. Stephen Wright made an excellent job of making his rather eccentric character, with his “magic foot”, nevertheless entirely credible.  Logainne is another somewhat complicated personality, with two fathers anxious for her to succeed. She has some outspoken political views which she shares with us and Lotty Farmer impressed in this part.  Daniel Wood gave a convincing performance as      Leaf Coneybear, a contestant with a preference of spelling his words whilst in something of a trance.  Rosa Burns as Marcy Park, a newish arrival in Putnam County, fluent in six languages and with history in the National finals, showed just the right amount of superiority over her rivals, but ultimately makes a deliberate error so as to leave to do what she wants rather than what others expect of her.  The remaining contestant is Chip, whose unfortunate experience whilst taking his turn causes him to be the first to be eliminated and thereafter is transferred to the duties of selling snacks.                 James Dickinson gave an amusing performance, especially in the song which explains his earlier predicament.

Vice Principal Douglas Punch, a character with something of an unsavoury past, has the task of choosing the words to be spelled and Neil Foster showed all the authority you would expect from such a master of language.  He is frequently asked for definitions of the words and challenged to use them in a sentence and his replies were always amusing. He displays a human side by creating a second prize for Olive after William becomes the eventual winner – a payment of $25 from his own pocket for her to pay her entrance fee.  Rona Peretti, winner of the third spelling bee, is now in charge of the whole competition and Katie Brier as this character found some interesting introductions for the contestants.  Both had to be on their toes as the competition developed, especially as, in an unusual feature, four members of the audience are recruited as fellow-contestants. Mitch Mahoney is on hand as the “Comfort Counsellor”, called into action to dispense juice boxes when contestants are eliminated. Mikhail Lim clearly enjoyed this task, with the opportunity for a song at the exit of the last audience member, on whose departure the interval depends.  Accompaniment was provided by a quartet housed above the stage.                           

My attendance at this production was at the invitation of the Company’s President and former Chairman, Geoff Turner, whose performances with this group I had enjoyed for many years and who is my predecessor in this role with NODA.  On the basis that there is probably no such thing as a free ticket, I had agreed to be one of the four audience contestants. Sadly, Geoff died a few days ago and so it is sad that he was unable to witness my efforts.  He will be greatly missed.                                     

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