The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a fun and upbeat musical which follows a group of children who are competing to win, you guessed it, a regional spelling bee. The show follows them as they navigate adolescence while trying to win the bee. It’s the winner of two Tony awards, and so I was very much looking forward to seeing it. This production is by the high school conservatory of The Harker School, from California. A long way to travel for a fringe show, but worth it – the teenagers in this production are very talented and it is an all round joy.
The show started with great gusto, heradling what was to be a upbeat and excited performance. The opening number, as in many musicals, identifies each of the main characters. Each character stands out visually thanks to the costume design and this and the ability of the actors to create individual characters makes it easy for the audience to follow along the story. Sometimes with a musical I haven’t seen before I find it difficult to remember who is who, but this didn’t happen in Spelling Bee.
At this point, however, there was some confusion. I enjoyed how the actors used the entire auditorium to move around and perform in, however this caused some difficulty at the very beginning when audience members were still being let in, meaning that there was a lot of background noise and movement, which made it a little difficult to follow the first scene. I’m hoping that this has been ironed out by now.
In some parts the audience are intentionally caught up in the action, leading to some improvised moments and a lot of fun. There are several surprised throughout the show, with even God making an appearance.
As the format of the show is a spelling bee, participants get knocked out until we have the finalists. This could mean the show loses some energy, especially compared to the large ensemble numbers of earlier in the show, but this production of Spelling Bee does not. Yes, the numbers are not as energetic, but this makes for some touching scenes and really allows the actors to show off.
I was impressed by this production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It’s a fun and joyful show with some very talented young performers that is well worth a watch.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is on at Central Hall on the 7th August at 8pm and 8th August at 10am. Tickets are available here.
Image by Ione Gildroy.