Review: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNUM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at Kennedy Center

The latest entry into Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage series is the crowd pleasing quirky musical by William Finn (Music and Lyrics) and Rachel Sheinkin (Book) known as The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee. The 2005 musical also features additional material by Jay Reiss.

The show takes place in a school gym somewhere in Putnum County, NY. Your host for the bee is Rona Lee Peretti (Bonnie Milligan) who is a former spelling champ. Vice Principal Douglas Panich (Taran Killam) is returning to the school after a long absence to give the contestants their words. The long absence had something to do with a mental breakdown, but he says he’s in a better place now.

It’s now time to meet the contestants. We have last year’s champion Chip Tolentino (Philippe Arroyo). Next is Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre (Beanie Feldstein) who has two overbearing parents and speaks with a lisp. Up next is Leaf Coneybear (Noah Galvin) who placed third in his regional bee but is competing here because the first place winner had his bar mitzvah, and the second place winner had to attend. Moving on, we have William Morris Barfée (Kevin McHale) who has a unique way of visualizing his words. Marcy Park (Leana Rae Concepcion) speaks six languages. Lastly, we have Olive Ostrovsky (Nina White) who was allowed to compete even though her parents didn’t pay the $25 dollar entry fee. There are also several guest spellers from the audience. At my performance one of them was celebrity chef Carla Hall.

As you might or might not know, being in a spelling bee puts an inordinate amount of pressure on the contestants. A misspelling can send you spiraling. Mitch Mahoney (Alex Joseph Grayson) is the support factor for the bee. He will comfort the contestant after a misspelling as he hands them a juice box and escorts them offstage.

Director/Choreographer Danny Mefford keeps the show moving along. He balances the comedic and serious elements of the show with ease.

Roberto Sinha leads a five piece band who plays the uncredited orchestrations of Michael Starobin to audible perfection. The band members are Sinha and Jonathan Bauerfeld (Keyboards), Ben Bokor (Reeds), Kerry Van Laanen (Cello), and Danny Villanueva (Percussion.)

Performance wise the cast is almost uniformly excellent. The standout performances for me are Bonnie Milligan whose “The I Love You Song) with Nina White and Alex Joseph Grayson is a definite standout.

Other top performances include Noah Galvin’s Leaf Coneybear. His vocal feature “I’m Not That Smart” is totally endearing.

Kevin McHale’s William Morris Barfée stops the show with “Magic Foot.” It’s amazing how the character can only breathe through one nostril and be able to do those dance moves.

Nina White’s Olive Ostrovsky literally breaks your heart.

Philippe Arroyo’s Chip Tolentino will have you wanting some candy after his lament about an unfortunate incident with his phallus.

Not only does Leana Rae Concepcion’s Marcy Park speak six languages, she also hits a home run while singing about them.

Tarn Killam uses his Saturday Night Live experience to full advantage while giving the words to the spellers.

Alex Joseph Grayson makes the most of his stage time as Mith Mahoney and also one of Logainne’s fathers.

The weak link, at least for me, is Beanie Feldstein’s performance of Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre. My reason for saying this is plain and simple. You need to find a balance between your character having a lisp while still making the words intelligible to the audience. This particularly becomes a problem in Feldstein’s vocal feature “Woe is Me.” I also found that Feldstein does not wait for the audience laughter to die down before continuing on thus some of her lines are lost.

Paul Tate DePoo III’s gymnasium set will bring you back to the days of school pizza and basketball games.

Overall, this production of The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee shows that the show is still tons of fun and makes us musical theatre geeks yearn for another show from the genius wordsmith William Finn. Maybe Broadway Center Stage can present his The Royal Family of Broadway next season.

Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee runs through October 20th, 2024, in Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. The venue is located at 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC.

Photo credit: The company of Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage production of The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

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