Spelling bees were never this much fun

While seated in L'UniThéâtre’s darkened audience absorbing The 25th Annual County Spelling Bee, the polished, superficial Glee popped into mind.

At first glance, ELOPE’s musical theatre’s awkward junior spellers have little in common with the song-and-dance world of Glee.

Glee portrays the back room of the slick televised world whereas Putnam’s quirky young adolescents live in the pressure cooker of spelling bees.

So what do TV’s musical theatre geeks share in common with these pint-size, rote-learning robots? Angst, plenty of angst.

On the surface this quirky Tony Award winning musical is a full-blown laugh fest. But scratch the layers and it is a solid satire on the competitive nature of the North American educational system.

These youngsters are misfits hoping to qualify for the national bee and a shot at glory and prizes. Possibly the coolest kid is Chip, last year’s winner, who is utterly distracted by raging hormones.

Logainne, the youngest, is saddled with two super competitive gay dads. Leaf Coneybear, zooming around the stage in a homemade cape, is the naÄŹve kid just happy to compete.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is William BarfĂ©e, a defensive, arrogant, snot-nosed kid determined to be this year’s champ. His secret weapon is a “magic foot” with which he spells words out on the floor.

Marcy Park comes from a family of overachievers and wishes she wasn’t expected to be perfect in everything. Completing the sextet is Olive Ostrovsky, a lonely kid searching for a replacement family. Her mother is in an Indian ashram and her father has so little time for Olive, he failed to pay the $25 entry fee.

The three main adults are equally eccentric. Hostess Rona Lisa Peretti, a former spelling champ, can’t let go of her 15 minutes of fame. The caller, vice-principal Douglas Panch has serious anger management issues and Mitch Mahoney, the tattoo-covered comfort counsellor, is a savvy, tough-talking ex-con performing community service work.

The talented cast has attacked William Finn’s score with tons of energy and are fearless in taking risks. They immediately establish their characters without straying into caricature.

Although this is an ensemble cast, Curtis Knecht as the mucus riddled, allergy suffering foot speller, gives a standout performance. Knecht’s sincere performance is both off-putting and completely endearing at the same time – a tough feat for any actor.

Sturgeon County’s Nadine Veroba as Olive is the sweet, shy girl you want to hug. Veroba visibly grows with each production she’s tackled, and as Olive she delivers a transcendent moment singing the poignant The I Love You Song.

Kristin Johnson is delightful as the politically aware Logainne and John Evans serves up an affectionate performance as Leaf. Mark Sinongco as Chip is provides a laugh-filled glimpse into the embarrassment of puberty, and Meredith Honda’s bid for freedom as Marcy gets the audience rooting for her.

Kudos to director Kristin Finlay for channelling the energies of an engaging cast of adults playing children.

But throughout this frothy fun there are some important lessons to learn. Family isn’t always right, and it’s all right to win and just as okay to lose.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs May 18-19, May 29-30 and June 1.