25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (1/15) with spoilers

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 12:05am

"Life is pandemonium" the "kids" of Putnam County sing, readying themselves for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, where it's clear that the best speller doesn't always win. It's a good metaphor for the state of the show itself, which, while incredibly entertaining, is still uneven at the end of it's first week of previews.

With memorable music and lyrics by William Finn (Falsettos, A New Brain) and a quick, witty book by Rachel Sheinkin, the two hour show, with intermission, will be inevitably compared to the recent Broadway revival of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown", where adult actors portray the young spellers, with varying degrees of success.

THE GOOD:

The book. Very, very funny. "Spelling Bee" doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable, sacreligious, but stops short of inappropriate. The characters are each given a set of circumstaces (stereotypes as they may well be), and while there's no real development, this isn't really the type of show where that would be expected. Because the book calls for a lot of "inside spelling bee" jokes, the best humor here comes from the punchlines to the "Can you use it in a sentence" questions. The best thing about the script is that it works as if spontaneous.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, as Leaf Coneybear, the hippie kid who makes his own clothes, and stumbled from third place in his local bee to counties. Jesse has great comedic timing, wide eyes and superb instincts. He's the real standout here.

Sarah Saltzberg as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, the somewhat obsessive, lispy daughter of gay parents. (Of course, almost every word she gets in the spelling bee starts with an "s"). She's absolutely adorable, and she really embodies the pretentiousness of the character.

Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, the girl whose parents don't really know that she's alive. Celia plays the part with grace and heart and real likeability. Her "big number" leaves something to be desired, but she's got a great voice to show off.

The ALMOST good:

Jose Llana as Chip Tolentino, the half-boy, half-man who has a few too many hormones to be focusing on the bee itself. I like Llana a lot as an actor, and his second-act opener is great, but he doesn't have too much to work with, otherwise. A one-note performance, for the most part.

The music/lyrics. Almost, almost. Memorable and somewhat clever, but there are too many unfunny and unremarkable numbers in a not-very-long score.

The not-yet-so-good

The rest of the cast, which includes Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard and Jay Reiss. I'm not sure if it was these actors themselves or the very one-note characterizations as written that really bothered me, but as Avenue Q shows, comedy doesn't mean you have to skimp on a fully realized performance.

The audience interaction. It's a cute idea, but it's just unneccesary. The audience spellers are on stage for far too long, and at least tonight, were distracting. It's schtick, and the show doesn't have to resort to it.

Overall, I had a good time, but wasn't overwhelmed by anything I saw. It could transfer to a larger venue (Saturday evening performance was almost sold out), if word of mouth spreads.

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 1:30am

I saw the show tonight as well.
I personally thought that Dan Fogler did a wonderful job as William Barfee and Lisa Howard has an undeniably beautiful voice. I also thought Celia's big song was very charming and effective. One of the few moments of real pathos in the show. Jesse Tyler Ferguson's and Dan Fogler's performances were the most fully realized, but I'm going to keep the jury out on any stiff critique of the other performances until previews are over. This is the kind of show that will REALLY benefit from previews, ironing out the kinks with the audience interaction. I do agree that having the people from the audience onstage is, overall, pretty useless. The other bits of audience interaction were well handled and easily controlled, useful in making the audience feel a part of the atmosphere, and not nearly as distracting as giving audience members the opportunity to talk onstage. Oy. Bad idea. Uncomfortable. Especially when that lady got the word RIGHT that was supposed to knock her out of the competition and get her offstage. Whoops. Funny at that moment the audience realized that the machinations within the script had just failed. But doesn't seem like a good idea for the possibility of that happening every night.

Throughout, I had the feeling that the play this show was based upon was created through long-form improv. It had a real spontaneous energy to it that gives it a unique feel among most rigid Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Very funny script that will only get tighter as previews continue.

William Finn's music is charming and character appropriate. Though, I find myself not remembering the melodies so much as remembering moments WITHIN the songs that worked. It's very pleasing to listen to nonetheless.

I don't think this show would be helped by a larger venue. It's not a big show and I personally think that 2nd Stages is just big enough without losing the intimacy of this small story. The Charlie Brown comparison was very apt. That show does NOT nor has it ever belonged in a Broadway house.
I also don't think that the characters were based upon stereotypes so much as they were attempting to create the characters using broad strokes. It they happen to resemble stereotypes to us, it's because we all knew kids like them in elementary school. I know I did.
Two cents, tossed.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 1:35am

Just sayin'- I thought it was amusing when one of the audience members succeeded on a word he was supposed to get wrong, and was immediately called up to spell again. Sure, it was pretty obvious that they were trying to get him offstage, but it didn't really detract from anything.