25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The

A musical with a most unusual title and the surprising winner of two Tony Awards is about to say adieu to Broadway after a long run. What better time to hit the hinterlands? So it happens that a tour of the tiny musical-that-could, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, appeared in Milwaukee, WI.

This oddly-named musical had an equally unlikely rise to Broadway fame, triumphing first in regional workshops and productions and off Broadway before landing on the Great White Way.

Spelling Bee is often praised by critics for being “cute and “charming” and “well-crafted.” Like some precocious child, it pulls out all the stops in order to impress. In this case, local references to Green Bay Packers football hero Brett Favre and on Brady Street (a hip Milwaukee neighborhood) try to coax the audience into its story. Spelling Bee depends heavily on its script, or "book," to flesh out the lives of a half-dozen pubescent children who nervously try to win a spelling bee. The show has an interesting audience-participation twist, as ticketholders sign up beforehand to appear onstage as spelling-bee contestants. Not only are their spelling IQs put to the test, the selected audience members actually join the cast for some goofy choreography, too. Much of Spelling Bee's humor derives from the off-the-wall descriptions of each contestant as he/she approaches the microphone. ("Lets his sister cut his hair," is among the tamer ones).

Another sure-fire laugh maker is when the contestants request a sentence containing the word they need to spell. As uttered by the moderator, the sentences are so vague, crude or lame that they basically shed no light on the word's usage. Not surprisingly, there is a great emphasis in this show on winning versus losing. Also, the social pressures and embarrassing situations of pre-adulthood come into focus. The characters range from the tall, fat and disheveled to the petite and beautifully dressed.

The first description fits the most memorable character, William Barfee (rhymes with parfait). Although Barfee's personal grooming habits are as gross as his appearance, he manages to win the audience's hearts with a "magic foot" that helps him visualize the word. Actor Eric Roediger shows why his predecessor—who played this character on Broadway - won a Tony Award for his stellar performance.

The entire contest takes place on a set that resembles a high-school gym. In this case, the set comes complete with a basketball hoop, climbing rope and collapsible bleachers. The entire cast does an excellent job with the material. If there's any fault in the show, it rests with the fact that a spelling bee is not inherently dramatic. We do learn a lot about each character, but do we really care? In general, there's a lot of talk and little action. And while a couple of songs are cute, none attain the standard of becoming “memorable hits.”
If audience members approach Spelling Bee with scaled-down expectations, they should like it just fine.