By Jennifer Joyce
When first walking into the Circle on the Square Theater on 50th Street in New York City, one will see something unique. There are posters all around mentioning school activities and promoting the pride of Putnam County.
Audience members will head towards their seats and notice that the stage has been transformed into a gym, with seats surrounding it on three sides. They will wonder: Am I back in Middle School? Not even close. This is what one sees when they go to see one of Broadway’s more unique musicals: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!”
Don’t let the title fool you, this show is nothing short of fun. With an awesome cast, catchy music and side-splitting jokes, audiences will be laughing from beginning to end.
The cast is superb. With the exception of three people, most of the characters are supposed to be young school-aged kids. However, they all talk and act as though they’re teenagers just trying to survive the pressures of puberty and adolescence. They go through the same issues that all kids face, such as trying to accomplish too much or trying to hide a young man’s first erection in public.
In this production, one actress stands out above the rest. In her portrayal of Olive Ostrovsky (the best speller), Jenni Barber was cute, innocent, a great singer and a great actress. When she sang a song that tells the audience about her life, she fabulously portrayed all of her emotions.
Unlike other musicals, this show is totally unpredictable. Yes, there are always the same spelling bee winner, the same characters and the same music. What is different at every performance, however, is the script and the participants.
This particular night, the show was full of audience participation. Along with the regular cast-member spellers, there are four other spellers that compete, and they come directly from the audience! Those audience members get both easy and difficult words, and they get involved in the same songs as the characters. These members are also the victims of practical jokes, which are nothing short of hilarious.
As for the script, some lines are thrown in at each performance to stay current with daily occurrences in America. At the end of a recent performance, when the characters say where they will end up in the future, one of the characters (who has two gay fathers) said she becomes the Secretary of Education-under President Albus Dumbledore-making reference to the recent announcement from J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter. It was very clever and was a good way to keep everyone smiling.
The set and the costumes for the show were all very interesting. The show takes place in a regular school gym, so there wasn’t much of a set change. The costumes, however, were all different in order to bring out each character’s personality, and each looked great. From a Boy Scout uniform to reflect the perfect A-plus student to a juvenile outfit to show a child, each costume was carefully designed for each character and perfect for this show.
Finally, the music was excellent. With music and lyrics by William Finn, each song is more entertaining than the last. The songs are a mixture that has a little bit of everything, including rock, drama and comical fun. Song titles include “Pandemonium,” “Woe is Me” and the title song, “The 25th Annual…”-you know the rest.
“Spelling Bee” is a fun musical for anyone and everyone to see. With a great cast, score and entertainment, audience members won’t walk away without having a huge grin stretching from cheek to cheek. Tickets will soon fly for the holidays, so get them now and get ready to go back to school with “Spelling Bee.”
Middle school is realistically brought to the stage in the unique musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Here, audience participation is encouraged and integral to each performance. (www.applause-tickets.com)