The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The inaugural musical produced by new theatre group Theatre and Company of the hilarious show The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a well-received hit on opening night.

Performed in the intimate Lennox Theatre at Riverside, it made you feel like you were in the audience of a live Spelling Bee.

The only difference here (for those who don’t know the show) is that the children spellers Olive, Marcy, Logainne, Leaf, William and Chip are all played by adults, acting as the heightened caricatures. Rounding out the cast are Vice Principal Panch, who gives out the questions, Host and previous winner in the 3^rd Spelling Bee, Miss Rona Peretti, and lastly Guidance Counsellor /ex criminal Mitch Mahoney.

At the start of the Bee, we meet the six competitors as they introduce themselves and we see the different ways in which they go about spelling their words including two unusual techniques. William using his “Magic Foot” to spell the word then answer into his Mic and Leaf’s way - when asked his word he seems to have no idea, starts rambling about anything else, then as if in a trance just blurts the letters out and they happen to be correct.

Leaf was physically performed outstandingly by Jared Pallesen and had the audience in stitches. As the Bee continues we hear stories told through song about each character and how they got their place in the Bee or about themselves. Olive’s number “My Friend the Dictionary” showed Tayla Jarret’s great characterisation skills as well as her brilliant vocal abilities. Charlie Hollands as William Barfee shone in his song “Magic Foot” and proved he really is a triple threat on the stage. As the show heads towards interval the first Speller is eliminated from the competition and ushered off stage by Mitch in his number “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor”. Michael Martis excelled in this number, which brought a rousing reception from the audience.

Act Two opened with the character Chip’s embarrassing moment number “My Unfortunate Erection”, a vocally superb performance by Guy Webster. From here the competition really heats up and we lose some more spellers. Logan’s number “Woe is Me” about her two dads is performed comically by Ashli Marin, who maintained the character’s lisp throughout the entire show. We are finally left with two competitors as they struggle with not wanting to come in second and a hint of a growing friendship outside the Bee getting in the way of the winner.

The highlight of this particular show is the comedic script and hinges on the direction and the actors playing out each caricature to achieve the full appreciation of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s script and score. Improvisation seemed to be highly used by the two adjudicators in Rona, played strongly by Caz Curtin, and Panch, played by Peter Meredith – who seemed to have a come-back for everything thrown at him. Curtin and Meredith fed off each other well and this brought out even more comical moments.

Director Adam Haynes and his cast and crew have provided a laugh a minute. The small static stage design was very well used and cast covered all spaces with use of action and choreography, which was great to see. Hayne should be praised for getting some amazing performances from his cast and his casting of the roles in general. Musical Director Zara Stanton and her band of five onstage sounded incredible and well-rehearsed. The choreography was one of my favourite elements in this particular production as it was well balanced within the show and the cast really gave it their all. Special mention has to go to Susana Downes as Marcy in the number “I Speak Six Languages”, demonstrating all her character’s skills.

You’ll have to go see The Spelling Bee yourselves to see who the winner is and I’m sure you will be highly entertained by this side splitting theatre experience.

James Russell