There’s something about attending a play or musical with the expectation that you are going to be entertained. OK, sometimes I admit that I like the show that challenges some belief I might hold dear, but most of the time, I just want to escape for a couple of hours. I want to laugh and cry. I want to root for the hero and cheer when there is great success.
That’s what the New Theatre’s production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is. There is no pretense and the fourth wall is a little thin as we are the audience that watches the spelling bee. The musical is sweetness personified. Were there messages? Sure, one character is desperately attempting to be perfect at everything she does and she realizes that life is OK if she falters from time to time. Another character wants to please her parents and another student competitor worries that he is not smart enough to be part of his family.
As the parent of a soon-to-be 12-year-old girl, I can see how she stresses about pleasing us and striving to be perfect. Of course, I remember my own angst as a tween. One more thing, I was one of the spelling bee kids. So was my husband. It’s pretty funny that some of their inner monologues hit close to home. I am sure almost everyone in the audience saw a little bit of themselves as a tween, full of apprehension and nerves, love and hope, loss and despair.
Richard Karn from Home Improvement, who played the long suffering co-host Al, makes an affable Vice Principal Douglas Panch. He’s super sweet and a low-key character compared to the six young actors who play the six precocious spellers.
Three of the spellers are actors whose careers I have followed in some form or fashion and not in that “stalker” way. First off, Shea Coffman plays an eager Boy Scout named Chip Tolentino. I have had the opportunity to see him in several shows including last summer’s New Theatre’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He’s one of those guys that you like because he’s got that great smile. However, when he took on the role of Olive’s dad, I saw the singer and the strength inside him. It was pretty cool.
I am quickly becoming a big fan of Sam Cordes. His role as Leaf Coneybear made me laugh and tear up a little at the thought that a child would feel like he doesn’t belong. Again, it might not be the hard-hitting messages of Angels in America, but any child and the subsequent adult he or she becomes has had that feeling before.
Then there is the lovely Katie Kalahurka who plays Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere, the daughter of a competitive gay couple. She creates this little-girl voice and sticks with it through her songs. Plus she hits some notes that should impress the pickiest music critics.
Of course, I won’t discount Rob Colletti who plays super-speller William Barfee and his magical spelling foot; overachiever speller Marcy Park, played by Mandy Morris; and Megan Long, who played Olive Ostrovsky, the speller in search of parent support. Tina Maddigan plays Rona Lisa Peretti, a past spelling bee champ and the county’s leading real estate agent. She has a lovely voice as the spelling bee hostess and judge, but her range takes new heights when she plays Olive’s mother, a character struggling to find herself in an Indian ashram.
And I will not forget Damron Russel Armstrong. His main role is comfort counselor Mitch Mahoney. I personally got a charge out of his character. My husband and I decided that he really offered the best comfort – a juice box and a hug. Some days, I really think some of life’s problems might best be handled by a hug and a juice box. I suppose if we all slowed down, instead of escalating problems, a hug and a juice box might solve some of life’s woes.
So once again, if you have not been to a play or musical in a long time, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee may be the show to see. The musical runs through June 17.
