#26
Posted: 2/8/05 at 12:47am
Here's the full Isherwood review:
"Can you spell irresistable? Drat! I mean, irresistible?
Yea or nay, that's precisely the word for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," the lovably inconsequential, entirely adorable new musical that opened Off Broadway last night at the Second Stage Theater.
A modest production that, unlike many of today's musicals, feels refreshingly handcrafted rather than manufactured by committee and market-tested, "Spelling Bee" brings to the stage the culture's current mania for celebrating that most revered of American virtues, the will to victory.
But if television's competitive "reality" shows shamelessly exploit viewers' queasy delight in watching the fur fly, the pleasures of "Spelling Bee" are gentler in spirit. The musical pokes serious fun at its twitchy tween contestants - in the loopy spirit of the movies "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show" - but it pays affectionate tribute to these quirky young spelling titans, too. It sweetly, and just a little sentimentally, suggests that the youngsters' initiation into the rigors of competition is at once an excruciating rite of passage and a crucible for character-building.
Musical theater watchers will want to know, first off, that "Spelling Bee" marks a heartening return to the spotlight for William Finn, the gifted lyricist and composer best known for "Falsettos." His nimble, upbeat score provides the emotional underpinning for Rachel Sheinkin's more satirical - indeed often riotously funny - book. The director, James Lapine, Mr. Finn's collaborator on "Falsettos," is also in impeccable form, managing to transform into virtues two of the theater's most reliable pitfalls, namely audience participation and the usually ghastly conceit of adult actors playing kids.
****
"Indeed, "Spelling Bee" has a few saggy stretches as we head into the finals. Each of the participants is somewhat dutifully apportioned a small emotional or moral epiphany, and the enjoyably goofy atmosphere must make way for some earnest attempts to tug at our heartstrings. (The musical can't hope to match the moving honesty of the documentary movie "Spellbound.")
But it never slides wholesale into after school-special territory. How could it, after all, when a winner must be crowned, and the losers must withdraw, choking back their tears? Although you know full well the ending is scripted and thus preordained (no, audience members do not have a serious shot at the trophy), it's hard not to get caught up in the sweaty spirit of competition. In this and some other respects the musical uncannily recalls another, now-classic, show that also dissects the joys and despairs of ruthless competition: "Spelling Bee" is, in essence, "A Chorus Line" with pimples."
NY Times Review
"Can you spell irresistable? Drat! I mean, irresistible?
Yea or nay, that's precisely the word for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," the lovably inconsequential, entirely adorable new musical that opened Off Broadway last night at the Second Stage Theater.
A modest production that, unlike many of today's musicals, feels refreshingly handcrafted rather than manufactured by committee and market-tested, "Spelling Bee" brings to the stage the culture's current mania for celebrating that most revered of American virtues, the will to victory.
But if television's competitive "reality" shows shamelessly exploit viewers' queasy delight in watching the fur fly, the pleasures of "Spelling Bee" are gentler in spirit. The musical pokes serious fun at its twitchy tween contestants - in the loopy spirit of the movies "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show" - but it pays affectionate tribute to these quirky young spelling titans, too. It sweetly, and just a little sentimentally, suggests that the youngsters' initiation into the rigors of competition is at once an excruciating rite of passage and a crucible for character-building.
Musical theater watchers will want to know, first off, that "Spelling Bee" marks a heartening return to the spotlight for William Finn, the gifted lyricist and composer best known for "Falsettos." His nimble, upbeat score provides the emotional underpinning for Rachel Sheinkin's more satirical - indeed often riotously funny - book. The director, James Lapine, Mr. Finn's collaborator on "Falsettos," is also in impeccable form, managing to transform into virtues two of the theater's most reliable pitfalls, namely audience participation and the usually ghastly conceit of adult actors playing kids.
****
"Indeed, "Spelling Bee" has a few saggy stretches as we head into the finals. Each of the participants is somewhat dutifully apportioned a small emotional or moral epiphany, and the enjoyably goofy atmosphere must make way for some earnest attempts to tug at our heartstrings. (The musical can't hope to match the moving honesty of the documentary movie "Spellbound.")
But it never slides wholesale into after school-special territory. How could it, after all, when a winner must be crowned, and the losers must withdraw, choking back their tears? Although you know full well the ending is scripted and thus preordained (no, audience members do not have a serious shot at the trophy), it's hard not to get caught up in the sweaty spirit of competition. In this and some other respects the musical uncannily recalls another, now-classic, show that also dissects the joys and despairs of ruthless competition: "Spelling Bee" is, in essence, "A Chorus Line" with pimples."
NY Times Review
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
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