Great Book, Strong Cast Spell W-i-n-n-e-r

"The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

 

Music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman, additional material by Jay Reiss, directed by James Lapine, orchestrations by Michael Starobin, music direction by Janet Roma, choreographed by Dan Knechtges, set design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Jennifer Caprio, lighting design by Natasha Katz, and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier

 

Cast in alphabetical order:

 

Chip Tolentino, Aaron J. Albano

Leaf Coneybear, Stanley Bahorek

Olive Ostrovsky, Jenni Barber

William Barfee, Jared Gertner

Mitch Mahoney, James Monroe Iglehart

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, Sara Inbar

Marcy Park, Greta Lee

Douglas Panch, Daniel Pearce

Rona Lisa Peretti, Betsy Wolfe

 

Performances: Extended engagement
Box Office: Ticketmaster at 617-931-2787 or www.ticketmaster.com

 

To borrow from another quirky and captivating musical comedy that has succeeded on Broadway as a David among Goliaths, "There's a fine, fine line" between cute and cloying. Fortunately, the Boston sit-down production of "The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" now playing at the Wilbur Theatre knows exactly where its boundaries are and never crosses from clever into annoying.

 

The utterly appealing and at times wildly hilarious Tony Award-winning book by Rachel Sheinkin is the shining star of this unlikely mega-hit. Her smart, sassy, heartfelt, and freshly funny words give voice to six – dare I say it – distinctly strange elementary school misfits who nonetheless suffer the same kinds of insecurities and ambitions that more "normal" pre-teens do.

 

Set within the confines of a nondescript school gymnasium/auditorium, the spelling bee of the title is the place where these socially outcast savants strut their stuff and get a chance to feel superior. In the tradition of "A Chorus Line," their individual stories unfold as they are asked to come up and spell for the "directors" – in this case the slightly neurotic teacher and reader Douglas Panch (the delightfully deadpan Daniel Pearce) and former spelling bee champ turned moderator Rona Lisa Peretti (the amiable and enthusiastic Besty Wolfe). In one volley of laughter after another, the kids snipe, spell, and steal their way into our hearts. While they are all perched on the brink of cartoon weirdness, their warmth and inner truth keep them from falling into a one dimensional abyss.

 

Aaron J. Albano as Chip Tolentino is the reigning champ and uber Boy Scout whose chest full of merit badges is proof of his inexperience with failure. Stanley Bahorek as the clumsy superhero wannabe Leaf Coneybear is the fill-in contestant who surprisingly discovers his true powers. Jenni Barber is the shy and touchingly wishful Olive Ostrovsky whose quiet desire to win the bee is a slim consolation for absent parental love. Sara Inbar plays the lisping and liberal Logainne Schwartandgrubenierre, a tightly wired intellectual determined to meet, at all costs, the expectations set by her two gay fathers. Greta Lee as the over scheduled and practically perfect Marcy Park may be great at everything, but her bored assurance is a thin shield against the pressure that comes from constant success. Finally there's Jared Gertner as the arrogant and competitive William Barfee (accent on the ay). His magic foot may spell superiority, but his allergy to nuts spells derision and fear.

 

Individually and collectively, this fine ensemble of actors (most of whom have been together since launching the San Francisco extended run) keeps this Boston "Spelling Bee" humming at a deliriously joyful pace. The rapid fire repartee between the students and their equally eccentric adult facilitators – including James Monroe Iglehart as the soul-singing Mitch Mahoney doing community service as a "comfort counselor" – makes the show's moments of introspection that much more poignant.

 

The most powerful of these is Olive's reverie, "The I Love You Song." Here Barber is joined by Iglehart and Wolfe to bring to life in musical fantasy the parents that Olive wishes she had. It's a beautiful number, wonderfully sung, and it makes one wish that the rest of William Finn's score were as unselfconscious. Too often, though, Finn's songs seem superfluous, even disposable. The melodies are forgettable, the messages repetitious of the book, and the lyrics too direct and expository. In one song, "My Unfortunate Erection," Finn seems to think that saying the word penis several times makes his work groundbreaking and daring. It isn't. Songs like "I'm not That Smart," "Magic Foot," and "I Speak Six Languages" are pleasant enough, but it's the actors who make them seem more meaningful than they actually are.

 

Director James Lapine has done everything right with this wonderful cast of characters. And let's not forget the various local audience members who bravely take the stage every night to become guest spellers. The jokes made at their expense are some of the show's funniest. A special tip of the hat goes to the young man who on press night got "caterjunes" right and had to be given a ridiculously hard word to be eliminated. His laugh was infectious.

 

So is the delight that is "Spelling Bee." It speaks to the nerd in all of us.

 

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Greta Lee, Aaron J. Albano, Stanley Bahorek, Sara Inbar, Jared Gertner, and Jenni Barber

2. Betsy Wolfe as Rona Lisa Peretti

 

Photos courtesy of Joan Marcus

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.