Center: Steven Mooney (Barfee); L-R: Natalie Sannes (Olive),
Maya Naff (Marcy), Scott Scaffidi (Chip), Kevin Barlowski (Leaf), and Hillary
Ekwall (Schwarzy). All photos by Rich Wagner
Go ahead, spell “syzygy.” Bet you
can’t (of course you can, because you’re looking at it – but you get my point).
Rona Lisa Peretti can, without peeking, and that won her top place lo those
many years ago at the Third Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Fast-forward 22
years and there’s a new batch of eager, buzzing Bees ready to win the trophy in
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” currently being hosted
at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford , with
none other than Rona Lisa at the helm. Even if you are logophobic (look it
up!), you can’t help but have a good time at this particular Bee, smartly
directed and choreographed by Susan Haefner.
The musical is based on an
improvisational play by Rebecca Feldman, which William Finn, who wrote the
music and lyrics for “Spelling Bee,” saw and immediately sensed possibilities.
“Spelling Bee” was work-shopped in 2004 and reached Off-Broadway in 2005, then
opened on Broadway in the same year, garnering two Tonys.
The premise is simple – but has a
twist. Six young, idiosyncratic contestants gather for the county spelling Bee
The contestants are essentially
stereotypes: there’s the socially inept nerd, William Barfee (that’s “Bar-fey!”)
(Steven Mooney), the Asian girl, Marcy Park (Maya Naff), who seeks perfection
in all she does, and the weirdo goof-off, Leaf Coneybear (Kevin Barlowski), who
makes his own clothes. Then there’s Logainne SchartzandGrubenierre (Hillary
Ekwall), who’s two “fathers” have made her so uptight she might shatter at any
moment, along with Chip Tolentino (Scott Scaffidi), a Boy Scout beset by
puberty, and finally Olive Ostrovsky (Natalie Sannes), the sweet,
girl-next-door type whose mother is currently in an ashram in India. The
proceedings are overseen by Perretti (Emily Kron), assisted by vice-principal
Douglas Panch (Norman Payne) and monitored by Mitch Mahoney (Norman Payne), an
ex-con doing community service by providing comfort (and apple juice) to those
eliminated.
Natalie Sannes (Olive), Steven Mooney (Barfee), and Hillary
Ekwall (Schwarzy); Second row: Maya Naff (Marcy) and Kevin Barlowski (Leaf);
Third row: Scott Scaffidi (Chip)
Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, who wrote
the book, milk the stereotypes for all they are worth, and to great comic
effect, often focusing in on mannerisms and personal tics that define the
“types.” The cast is, from first to last, excellent – whether they are
wandering through the audience prior to curtain, establishing “relationships”
(Scaffidi will find his “mother” in the audience before the show starts),
guiding the other (audience) contestants through the first act, or revealing
their travails and insecurities via ballads and ensemble numbers – they please
on any number of artistic levels while eliciting laughs and guffaws from the
audience on a regular basis.
Part of the enjoyment comes from
how the four audience “contestants” are handled. The script calls for them, one
by one, to be eliminated by the end of the first act. How Newsome, who as Panch
reads the words to be spelt and provides definitions and usage of the words in
sentences (to great comic effect) handles this elimination is a crowd-pleaser,
especially since, on opening night, the last “contestant” left standing was
actually a good speller of arcane words – how Payne chose to bring about his
elimination got probably the biggest laughs of the evening.
With such an excellent cast working
in harmony it’s difficult to point to any single cast member for praise, so
let’s be inclusive. Mooney captures the nerdy awkwardness of his character with
perfection, showing that he uses his intelligence as a defense mechanism to
ward off the slings and arrows of disdain – his “Magic Foot” number is a deft
weaving of character into song. Then there’s Ekwall, whose blond hair is pulled
back tightly into two pigtails (emphasizing the pressure she lives under) – her
character is total kinetic energy, wound so tight that words fly out of her
mouth like bullets being fired by a machinegun (perhaps a bit of a detriment when
it comes to catching all of the lyrics when she sings).
Maya Naff
As for the goof-ball Leaf,
Barlowski has the weirdness down to perfection – he flaps around the stage like
a chicken on LSD and goes into a face-twisting, eye-crossing trance when he
spells his words. As loose as Leaf is, Marcy is regimentally rigid, and Naff
ably captures the self-induced pressure she is under – her encounter with
“Jesus” and her plaintive “I Speak Six Languages” number, which set her
character “free,” is an entrancing epiphany.
Scott Scaffidi
Tolentino gives his character, the
Boy Scout, just the right amount of earnestness and his two set-pieces – first
when he must somehow hide his erectile embarrassment and second, at the opening
of the second act, when he is demoted to selling candy to the audience – are
both crowd-pleasers.
Natalie Sannes and Emily Kron
Finally, there’s Sannes as the sweet-as-pie Olive, a
sweetness that hides her pain, loneliness and longing for her mother to return.
Her number, “The I Love You Song,” sung with Kron playing the mother and Payne
the father, simply stops the show, her plaintive “Mother, Mother, Mother,” echoing
in the audience members’ minds long after the blackout.
Of those running the show, Kron
gives her character just the right touch of rah-rah enthusiasm and is a lovely,
sweet-voiced, lithe addition to the ensemble numbers, while Newsome is
excellent at the drollery needed to bring off his character, a man who hides
his disappointment at always being the “vice-principal” until he explodes
mid-way through the second act. Finally, Payne, in his multiple roles, is
believably street-tough as Mahoney, but ably switches character to be a doting
“mother” and an aloof, emotionally-challenged “father.”
There’s simply not much, if
anything, to complain about with this production. The pacing is such that the
two hours (with one intermission) seem to fly by. Tracy Flater, the Playhouse’s
executive director, was sitting in the audience house right on opening night.
You could see the pleasure on her face as the audience reacted to the subtle
(and not so subtle) one-liners, the sight gags, the ensemble numbers. It must
have been music to her ears.
If you’re looking for an engaging
night at the theater that will have you leaving with a smile on your face, then
“Spelling Bee” is a good bet – it’s a lot of goofiness with just a touch or two
of pathos. And if you’re a logophile, sign up to be a contestant – you might
just win some apple juice.
“The 25th Annual Putnam
County Spelling Bee” runs through July 20. For tickets or more information call
860-523-5900, X10, or go to www.playhouseonpark.org
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