Clara Ann Bagnoli ‘28
Design Editor
F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S definition: Pomona College Theater’s production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A perfect blend of music and comedy, the two act musical highlighted the talent of the 5C thespians’ singing abilities. It offered a satirical take on how academic competition can drive even the most innocent of participants to anguish — a well known reality within The Claremont Colleges as the prestige of our institutions often motivates tension between peers.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a joint creation from writer and director Rebecca Feldman with additional material by the playwright Jay Reiss. However, the story was originally told by Rachel Sheinkin in both book and musical comedy format. Originally directed on Broadway in 2005, the play was brought to the Seaver Theater by director Fran de Leon along with the student assistant director Tienwadee “Dew” Tungkaplin PZ ’27.
The play follows six tweens on their trek to spelling glory with the prize for their efforts being participation in the national spelling bee in Washington D.C.
The spellers are a quirky bunch, each introduced with a fun fact as they were called up to spell their first word.
The play centered on Marcy Park, who recently moved to town from Virginia, and was the anticipated winner of the bee after placing 9th in nationals the year before. The character of Marcy, played by Maisie Adams PZ ’25, is a perfectionist, excelling in not only spelling but also sports, languages, and music as well.
After the winner and runner up of his district’s bee had to attend a bat mitzvah, a homeschooler from a hippie family, Leaf Coneybear (played by Avery Smith HMC ’26), stepped in to spell.
Local Little League legend and last year’s spelling bee champion, Chip Tolentino, played by Jadin Porter PO ’26, was another possible winner, although his crush on Coneybear’s sister, Marigold, got in the way.
Logan Schwartzandgrubenniere, played by Mabel Weismann ’28, was the youngest of the spellers. Despite her lisp, she still attempted to make her two bickering fathers proud with her skills in the alphabet.
Olive Ostrovsky, played by Marie Claire Dubard ’25, came to the bee all by herself after her mother left for a spiritual retreat in India and her father was at work late. Ostrovsky is the sweetest speller and befriended another speller, Barfée. However, she remains most loyal to her bestie, the dictionary.
William Barfée, played by Nicholas Russell PO ’26, was absolutely made for audience entertainment. His magic foot and mucus problem made his character a constant source of laughter and the shrill correction of his last name’s pronunciation had the crowd cracking up each time.
While the actors had all around wonderful performances, the costumes added another layer to the characters as they each reflected the child’s background and personality. Coneybear had on a pinecone beanie and khakis covered in rainbow doodles while Schwartzandgrubenniere looked professional in her pink pantsuit with a rainbow pin tying the outfit together. Tolentino was in his baseball uniform with a crooked hat, which he often tipped towards the audience in a confident swagger.
Speaking of audiences, the musical had a unique inclusion of non-cast members on stage. As patrons approached the theater, they were greeted by Fabiana Parés Gutiérrez PO ’28, armed with a clipboard and playing the role of Rona Perretti.
It took awhile to figure out that the formally dressed woman speaking was actually in character, but the exuberant spelling bee references really helped tip the audience off. Peretti’s role was not only to entertain but also to sign up brave audience members to come up on stage at the beginning of the musical to be volunteer spellers.
Once the play started, she called out their names and they all made great attempts at sound-spelling the seemingly made up words that Peretti and her assistant “pronunciator” Douglas Panch, played by Andy Fiengold-Fisher PO ’27, threw at them. The best part of this audience inclusion was during the choreography of the song “Life is pandemonium.” Here, everyone but the two remaining spellers — middle aged confused audience members — were moved around on stage from cast member to twirling cast member.
The second act was really where the musical picked up. It began with the aftermath of Chip’s elimination from the bee when an unfortunately timed erection caused him to misspell his word. Porter did an excellent job portraying the nightmare of a situation as his voice cracked in terror while his hands were glued over his crotch.
Now eliminated, Tolentino was given the job of concession operator and threw candy into a crowd of outstretched hands. He then broke out into song lamenting his elimination which ended in him thrusting his pelvis belting “erection, erection.”
After this, Marcy performed her solo song “I speak six languages,” where she prays to Jesus for a word harder to spell than “camouflage.” After this request, Christ himself, played by August Davis HMC ’25, appeared. Although he was less holy and robe-wearing and more ready for a night out at the drag club, the shock of a sparkly jumpsuit coupled with mermaid inspired makeup had the crowd erupting. I for one, had to take awhile to get my jaw off the floor, but appreciated the representation of a more queer coded savior as a Catholic.
My only critique is Olive Ostrovsky’s “I love you song.” Although very beautifully sung, it left me feeling very sad which dampened my overall enjoyment of the humor of the play.
Despite this, I still give the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee five stars and hope that everyone gets a chance to see it.
