The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
By William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin
Directed and Choreographed by Rob Anderson
Starring Pricilla Bagley, Jay T Becker, Trevor Dion Nicholas
Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando FL</strong>
If you can’t run fast, jump high, or look cool, there’s always The Spelling Bee. Higher profile than chess club, less potential useful than model railroading, and open to all who score in the 99th percentile of the Iowa Test of basic Skill test, it’s the Geek activity of last resort. Ms Perretti (Bagley) won ages ago, and now she carries the torch for all the kids who can use Syzygy
and Centical in grammatically correct sentences. She’s a bit frustrated, but not as badly as assistant principle Douglas Patch (Becker). He’s only an adequate speller, but as they say “Someone’s gotta read the words.” On the kids side we find the usual dysfunctionalities – charming Chip Tolentino (Alex Thomas Ferguson) can’t hide his erection in a cub scout uniform, ethical Logainne Schwartzandgubenierre (Mellissa mason) has two daddies and the last name from Hell, and arrogant William Barffeè is classically overweight and mucus riddled, and no one pronounces his name correctly. There are more, but you get the drift – kids overcome their inborn problems by competing against equally handicapped uncools.
While this brilliant comedy surfs on the story and the characterization of these abecedarians, there are a few good songs sprinkled among the hard words and frenetic dance energy. Leaf Coneybear (Eric Nicole Bridges) grew up third generation hippy and laments “I’m Not That Smart,” although he knocks off some respectable words. Another touching moment comes from Logainne and her duet with community service parolee Mitch (Nicholas) in the touching “Woe Is Me.” Mitch did some minor time, and now passes out hugs and juice boxes to the losers. The oddest yet most compelling song comes from Marcy Park (Regina Fernandez), the Overachieving Asian. “I Speak Six Languages” talks about sleeping 3 hours a night to be a success at everything she touches. When she misspells an easy word (Cystitis or Ecdysiast, I forget which) she’s out of the Bee, but realizes its OK to fail sometimes. Just not too often…
While the fun revolves around the tortures of youth, and hopefully our own adjustment to adult hood, there’s a deeper message. We preach diversity and multi culturalism, but there’s a persistent anti-intellectualism in America, and it celebrates cool and athletic over smart and introspective. If you are burdened with intellect, you’re sent off to the hell of debate club and math track meets but the pains of growing up are still the same – will they like me, will they accept me, and will they give me another swirly? No, No, and Yes.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
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