#1
Posted: 4/17/05 at 10:03am
THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE Review
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” an off-Broadway transfer to a quaint Broadway home, is a new, rare, and wonderful musical that finds the perfect balance between song, dance, acting, and storytelling. A top notch creative team, an uber talented cast of characters, an equally pleasing score, and the book to beat come this years awards season are all part of how you spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S!
Book writer Rachel Sheinkin makes her Broadway debut alongside “Falsetto’s” alum William Finn’s delightful new music. Together they intertwine the tale of six obsessed child word lovers in a Spelling Bee competition so fierce, so heated, and so competitive that the puppets in “Avenue Q” are starting to look tame. Joined on stage by four lucky audience members the game heats up as each speller goes head to head given a menagerie of words from the English lexicon.
And it is because of the talent on stage that the bee truly sizzles. A cast that supports each other so well on stage the way “Spelling Bee” does is hard to find anywhere today. Standouts include Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Leaf Coneybear, a nerdy kid who makes his own clothes; Dan Fogler as William Barfee, the boy with the magic foot; Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, the speller with the kind and gentle heart; and Lisa Howard as Rona Lisa Peretti, the moderator and previous spelling bee champ! These names may be virtual unknowns, but fear not my friends, they are the new generation of household names.
At an intermission-less one hour and fifty minutes, the only complaint is the numbness ones legs and backside begins to feel towards the harmonious song between Olive and her parents. But the action soon comes to wraps, and the Spelling Bee champ is crowned. In the end, the audience is the true winners for having witnessed an unbelievably enchanting evening in the Circle in the Square.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” may not be as dirty as “Avenue Q” (and with that more universal), but it certainly has the same heart. If this gem teaches anything it is that a little show with less hype and virtual unknowns is a far more entertaining evening than “Spamalot” ever could hope to be. Just like last years fight to the finish between “Wicked” and “Avenue Q” – the battle lines have been drawn again. “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” to your corners and may the best show win, just don’t ask me to pick!
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” an off-Broadway transfer to a quaint Broadway home, is a new, rare, and wonderful musical that finds the perfect balance between song, dance, acting, and storytelling. A top notch creative team, an uber talented cast of characters, an equally pleasing score, and the book to beat come this years awards season are all part of how you spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S!
Book writer Rachel Sheinkin makes her Broadway debut alongside “Falsetto’s” alum William Finn’s delightful new music. Together they intertwine the tale of six obsessed child word lovers in a Spelling Bee competition so fierce, so heated, and so competitive that the puppets in “Avenue Q” are starting to look tame. Joined on stage by four lucky audience members the game heats up as each speller goes head to head given a menagerie of words from the English lexicon.
And it is because of the talent on stage that the bee truly sizzles. A cast that supports each other so well on stage the way “Spelling Bee” does is hard to find anywhere today. Standouts include Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Leaf Coneybear, a nerdy kid who makes his own clothes; Dan Fogler as William Barfee, the boy with the magic foot; Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olive Ostrovsky, the speller with the kind and gentle heart; and Lisa Howard as Rona Lisa Peretti, the moderator and previous spelling bee champ! These names may be virtual unknowns, but fear not my friends, they are the new generation of household names.
At an intermission-less one hour and fifty minutes, the only complaint is the numbness ones legs and backside begins to feel towards the harmonious song between Olive and her parents. But the action soon comes to wraps, and the Spelling Bee champ is crowned. In the end, the audience is the true winners for having witnessed an unbelievably enchanting evening in the Circle in the Square.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” may not be as dirty as “Avenue Q” (and with that more universal), but it certainly has the same heart. If this gem teaches anything it is that a little show with less hype and virtual unknowns is a far more entertaining evening than “Spamalot” ever could hope to be. Just like last years fight to the finish between “Wicked” and “Avenue Q” – the battle lines have been drawn again. “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” to your corners and may the best show win, just don’t ask me to pick!
