In 2003, two enterprising King’s Students cobbled up some grant and visitor money to fly the noted American Musical writer William Finn to Halifax. They corralled me to write about it for a now-defunct online outlet. Two years later Finn would launch one of his most successful pieces, The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.
Finn was an extraordinary writer; second only to Sondheim—in my opinion—in the pantheon of the American Musical. When I noticed a relatively new outfit from Dartmouth—Ekko Performing Arts Society—planning a run of his 25th Putnam County Spelling Bee musical at the Bus Stop Theatre toward the end of August, I knew I had something to look forward to.
I’m happy to report that the production lives up to Finn’s near-perfect writing. Propelled by a vigorous five-piece live orchestra (clarinet, drums, piano, cello and conductor) on the floor on one side of the theatre, with 10 spelling contestants on the other side, the show is funny, energetic and beautifully executed by director Adam Leblanc (who deftly plays the deadpan spelling bee compere onstage).
Finn’s writing—adapted from existing work by Rebecca Feldman—with a book by Rachel Sheinkin—is warm, slightly goofy and occasionally downright moving. The songs are precise and much harder to play than they seem. There are lots of choral effects—there are 6 onstage spellers plus four provided by the audience each night—plus a couple of ensemble songs that splay into large-scale dance pieces.
It’s an ambitious but confidently performed piece that erases the line between the audience and the performers. You get to cheer on the contestants while appreciating their various peccadillos: from the alpha males mixing it up to the perfectionists toying with the process, the characterizations are rich and intriguing. The spelling bee proceeds—naturally—like a real spelling bee, with each contestant getting one line of description as they go up to the spelling challenge. A few flashbacks fill out the characters’ backgrounds; the contestants each have weird techniques (writing on their arm, spelling with their feet…) that reveal that they are more than just geeky tweens.
Finn unleashes a battery of basic techniques—speeding things up, slowing things down, using the spellings themselves as jokes—to keep the plot moving towards a singular winner of the contest. And then there’s a clutch of show-stopping songs that take the production up to an entirely higher level of theatricality.
The cast is uniformly strong. Standouts include Felix Silver as Chip—he also briefly plays Jesus —who gets the bawdiest bit of the play, the ‘Unfortunate Erection’ song. Noah Tran is stellar as William Barfee, whose footwork is a rubbery delight. Kiera McCarthy is terrific as Leaf Coneybear, a distracted contestant who seemingly can only spell when in a trance.
Rebecca Hergett’s portrayal of Rona Lisa Peretta, the overly polished realtor who keeps the spelling bee running while unapologetically appreciating the contestants’ brilliance—and weirdness—neatly captures the absurdity of the proceedings.
The set and costumes are pretty basic, with simple tables, chairs, and a giant banner as the only additions to the Bus Stop’s Black Box Theatre space. With something of a crowd on stage (5 musicians, 10 spellers, and three administrators), Ekko made great use of the space, especially for the ensemble dances, which were imaginatively choreographed by Carrie Matheson.
A great piece of writing like The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee can be a real challenge for any company to live up to. Adam Leblanc and Ekko have gracefully lived up to this challenge, fully realizing William Finn’s compassion, iconoclasm and humour.
Highly Recommended.
The production runs to August 29 at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax. For tickets and other information: call 1 888-639-1169 or visit busstoptheatre.coop.
EKKO PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY presents
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Music and Lyrics by William Finn; book by
Rachel Sheinkin; conceived by Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss.
Director: Adam Leblanc
Musical Director: Kevin Pirker
Stage Manager: Hoang Lan
Costumes/Assistant Stage Manager: Livia Dias Bestteti Santos
Assistant Stage Manager/Sound and Lighting Design: Basil McCarthy
Choreographer: Carrie Matheson
Piano: Denise Wright
Percussion: Jill Corbin
Cello: Lucas Wright
Clarinet/Saxophone: Gaia Kupitman
