The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee

The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee is a musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman and has music and lyrics by William Finn from a book by Rachel Sheinkin. It has been a popular title with amateur companies since its 2005 Broadway debut.   Although the central concept of a school spelling competition does not seem an obvious plot for a musical, it is easy to see why it is so often produced. It’s great fun and the clever inclusion of four additional spellers from the audience in the first half provides plenty of opportunities for some comic business, especially with so many friends and family in the audience. The first half is very funny and entertaining but the focus on the final battle in the second half means that when the focus switches to the competitors’ back stories is does feel slightly imbalanced, although to be fair it does have its funny moments.

The set, lighting and sound were first rate and Margot Barber’s costumes were well judged for each character all of which helped to enhance the production. This is a challenging show both for the cast and the musicians as the music is not easy.  Each of the quirky teenagers (mainly played by adults) has at least one solo and all involved performed to a high standard.

Lucy Short as Rona Lisa Perretti in charge of the Bee led from the front with an extremely confident performance and a lovely voice. David Blaikie gave a great performance, as the nasally challenged William Barfée (pronounced Barfay!) who is determined to be this year’s winner.  Aidan Meikle as Chip Tolentino - boy scout and last year’s champion returns to defend his title.  This young actor gave a fine performance. He managed his lyrically naughty solo Chip’s Lament impressively straight-faced. He also doubled as a skateboarding Jesus.Alyssia Radford as Logainne SchwartzandGrubeniere a a young lady with two gay fathers was impressive managing to keep her excellent lisp going throughout.Mia Turner as Leaf Coneybear was a real kook and she did it so well! Her song I’m Not That Smart was very well done.Jessica Wildman was great as Marcy Park who speaks six languages by the way, and who finds her continuous success disappointing deliberately misspelling her word and joyfully eliminating herself.Katy Hughes as Olive Ostrovsky, who made friends with her dictionary at an early age to compensate for lack of parental love and attention, gave a bravura performance.  As talented as an actress as she is vocally.  The I Love You Song in which she was joined by her Mom (Lucy Short) and Dad (Mark Wright) was beautifully done.James Crussell as Vice Principal Douglas Panch - a man not without his personal problems - did a great job.  His apology for his outburst whilst wrapped in his comfort blanket was highly amusing.Mark Wright as Mitch Mahoney, doing community service by looking after the students, as well as doubling/trebling as various fathers was very good. Great voice too.  The cast was completed by three Spelling Bee Stage crew Hannah Reynolds (also Leaf’s mum), Rob Stewart (also Carl-Dad) and Millie Sutcliffe wielding a mean broom. 

Under Tim Meikle’s direction and Musical Director Maria McElroy’s expertise this production made the most of the opportunities given with strong characterisations throughout the cast, some lively choreography (by Charlie-May Wallis and Zack-Rhys Wymer) in the production numbers and some very good voices amongst them. Special mention to the Band (MD Maria McElroy, Melody Bell, Carmen Robinson, David Aston and Ben Davidson) who were impressive.

Thanks Wilburton Theatre Group and well done to everyone involved, this was an extremely good production and we had a very enjoyable evening indeed.

NODA owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by NODA Councillors, Reps and Assistant Reps.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.