BWW Reviews: Street Theatre Company's PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

If it were not for a bad case of M-E-N-I-N-G-I-T-I-S, my life would be completely different. You see, it was my misspelling of that particular word in the 1971 McNairy County Spelling Bee that led me down the path of decadence, debauchery and depravity that I have lived since. Because I, like spelling wunderkind Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre in The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, "overcomplicated" the spelling to a bastardized M-E-N-Y-N-G-I-T-I-S, and finished second to that closet queen Robert Beck who went on to Vanderbilt and Harvard and what I can only assume is a life more spectacular and rich beyond all imagination.

Thanks to Street Theatre Company's stellar production of the William Finn-Rachel Sheinkin-Rebecca Feldman musical comedy, I'll be wallowing in self-pity (or maybe I'll be just a little melancholy and sanguine) until I find better ways to occupy my time and better memories to fill my mind - or a bright, shiny object catches my eye. But for now I am happy to reflect on the joyous and frivolous fun that is director Lauren Shouse's superb and sparkling staging of the musical that somehow manages to be both completely contemporary and gloriously traditional in a musical-comedy-sort-of-way. Shouse's exceptional cast of actors, accompanied by music director Rollie Mains' talented musicians and featuring the sprightly choreography of Paul Cook, are sheer perfection as The Bee's crew of over-achieving - sometimes cringeworthy, yet always lovable - middle school spelling phenoms. You'd be hard-pressed to experience a more satisfying night at the theatre.

An affectionate evocation of the trials and tribulations of adolescence,The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a fast-paced pastiche of comic scenes and drolly amusing drama created by Sheinkin (based on Feldman's original improv comedy tale of pre-teens taking part in a spelling bee), all set to Finn's fine musical score. The characters, although somewhat outrageous and sometimes bordering on stereotypes, are unique personalities, creations of the particular time and place of The Bee's genesis (creative license is granted to provide for topical updates and up-to-the-minute references) and they are wholly lovable people you cannot help but root for.

Shouse's direction is top-notch and her seasoned creativity is apparent throughout the show, which is presented in two acts, with a 15-minute intermission (but here's hoping one of the young women working the front door doesn't give you the same evil eye she gave me at every opportunity during the break, as if she fully expected me to cart off scenery or sound equipment). You're likely to find yourself so completely caught up in the onstage action that you will be amazed how quickly those two acts pass.

Shouse's vision for the show, and her production team's design aesthetic (Paul Cook did the lighting design, with Joe Robinson designing the set and Abby Waddoups taking on costume design), make for a terrific staging of The Bee in STC's temporary home in a warehouse area along Elm Hill Pike. Thankfully, Micah Drushal's sound design and exemplary sound equipment, Make Up For the cavernous space, thus ensuring a production in which every word, every note, every thing can be heard.

And oh, what wondrous things you'll hear: From the impossibly difficult words the spellers must maneuver around in their journey to the top of the bee pyramid, to the wonderfully droll use-in-a-sentence aspect of the words and the exquisitely performed musical score...The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is sure to leave you laughing and thinking.

While the structure of the show is hilarious from the start - you are actually in the audience for the contest among the best young spellers in fictional Putnam County, in the "gymnatorium" of some make-believe middle school (you might even find yourself cast as one of the guest spellers for the particular performance you're attending) - it is the immensely talented cast of actors who bring the show to raucous, yet somehow very poignant and touching, life.

Clearly, Scott Rice's William Barfee (pronounced "bar-FAY" not "BAR-fee") is the star of the ensemble, using his "magic foot" to spell out his words (which would make Phi Beta Kappas keel over in desperation) while delivering a tour-de-force comic performance. His late-in-the-second-act confession that he's been spelling with a handicap (he's only able to breathe through one nostril) is outlandishly funny, but somehow sweet and compelling, thanks to Rice's superb timing and completely confident portrayal. The William Barfee-led "Magic Foot" number is probably the evening's best musical offering, featuring the entire cast in full-out Chorus Line wedge showmanship.

Erica Cantrell is terrifically funny as Marcy Park, the ringer who's transferred into Putnam County - where she is a student at Our Lady of Intermittent Sorrows School - from Virginia (she was that state's champion the previous year, finishing ninth in the nationals) and is the poster child for over-achieving pre-teens everywhere. Cantrell's performance is self-assured and sweetly nuanced and her "I Speak Six Languages" is nothing short of delightful.

Lindsay Terrizzi Hess (as the aforementioned Logianne Schwartzandgrubenierre) is perhaps most impressive for her complete focus and the uncanny ability to play the bee's youngest contestant without a hint of phoniness or sitcom precociousness. As the long-suffering daughter of two gay dads (her "BM" - shorthand for birth mother - lives in Kansas, Missouri), she's a budding politician attempting to get the voting age lowered to ten.

As reigning Putnam County Spelling Bee champ Chip Tollentino, Mike Baum once again proves his amazing versatility - and he gets to sing the cleverly entitled "My Unfortuante Erection," an anthem to every adolescent boy's daily reminder that his hormones are raging. Further, Baum is given the chance to showcase his tremendous range as he takes on a couple of other characters in the farcical world that is Putnam County.

Alan Smith, with a tremendous head of curly hair, plays Leaf Coneybear, the speller least likely to have landed in the bee, thanks to his third place finish in the home-school district bee. Smith's performance is guilelessly over-the-top (he can only spell when he goes into a trance-like state and he makes all his own clothes!), yet he manages to keep his character genuine and very real (perhaps most keenly felt in his performance of "I'm Not Very Smart") as he talks of his countless siblings and their aging hippie parents.

The final speller is Olive Ostrovsky, played rather perfectly by Cori Anne Laemmel. The daughter of a mother on a religious sojourn to India and a father with his head in the clouds, Olive first finds her love for words while reading her trusty dictionary. Laemmel gives a richly drawn performance and her extraordinary voice soars on "The 'I Love You' Song" (which features strong support from Corrie Miller and Mike Baum as her parents). Her charming stage presence is palpable and, clearly, Laemmel has the talent to deliver the goods, which she does beautifully. Frankly, he should be giving Sutton Foster a run for her money on Broadway instead of working all over Nashville (though, lord knows, we're endlessly grateful that she is).

The bee's adults are played with warmth and enthusiasm (and more than a little wild-eyed abandon) by Corrie Miller as emcee Rona Lisa Peretti, a former spelling champion herself and now Putnam County's leading realtor; Patrick Kramer as bee judge Douglas Panch, a vice principal who is returning from a five-year absence thanks to therapy, a high-fiber diet and whatever it took to pull him out of the depths created by whatever it was that happened to him way back when; and James Rudolph as ex-con Mitch Mahoney, who's serving out his public service by providing solace, comfort and juice boxes to the spellers when they, well, can't spell and are relegated to the so-called "comfort room." Like the rest of the cast, the adults are given their moments in the spotlight and they each given excellent performances: Miller perfectly embodies the former champ, with all the unbridled enthusiasm of someone who achieved their loftiest goal at 13; Kramer is ideally cast as the uptight educator with a flair for the dramatic, amid the mundane and predictable; and Rudolph plays Mitch, one of Logainne's gay dads and Jesus (trust me, it works!) with equal grace.

In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to find anything wrong with The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The truth is I absolutely loved every minute of it (well, except for that weird vibe I got from that chick in the lobby) and I'd tell you to go see it, but I think that's a pretty cheap and lazy way of ending a review. But what the hell? Go see it. Meanwhile, I'll stay home with my memories of 13-year-old me in a lavender shirt and white tie, trying vainly to spell a word I'd never seen in print before.

- The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Music and lyrics by William Finn. Book by Rachel Sheinkin. Conceived by Rebecca Feldman. Directed by Lauren Shouse. Musical direction by Rollie Mains. Choreographed by Paul Cook. Presented by Street Theatre Company at 1120 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville. For details, visit the company website at www.streettheatrecompany.org or call (615) 554-7414 for ticket information.

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