When everything clicks in a successful community theatre production, the results can be uniquely exhilarating. Such is the case with Langham Court Theatre’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Almost everything works in this well-directed, deftly crafted, buoyantly giddy show. Above all, we get a sense of theatre lovers who gathered as a community, toiled mightily and produced something worthwhile. Hard work does pay off — and it shows in this engaging effort.
This 2005 comedy musical about linguistically gifted nerds is a popular choice in the amateur theatre world, with its helium-light humour and wealth of acting roles (the Langham Court show uses 13 actors).
The show is based on the curious phenomenon of the spelling bee, in which contestants engage in a battle of wits to spell things such as “syzgy” and “capybara.”
Naturally, such competitions don’t attract high-school basketball stars or cheerleaders. Putnam County Spelling Bee is a celebration of the adolescent misfit.
So we get Leaf Coneybear (wears a helmet because he falls a lot), William Barfee (debilitating peanut allergy, spells out words with his “magic foot”) and Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (has two dads and a catastrophic lisp).
One by one, these likable dweebs trudge to the microphone to spell arcane words. This is despite the fact that most (except for Barfee) don’t know what they mean, which perhaps foreshadows the existential futility of the adult lives awaiting them.
Along the way, we get mini-backstories. Virtually abandoned by her absent parents, Olive’s best friend is her dictionary, hence her song My Friend, The Dictionary. And Marcy, who speaks six languages, does everything to cold perfection, but takes little joy in life.
The actors convincingly make each nerd a distinct personality. On Thursday night, Rowan Wolfe brought a certain joie de vivre to Chip, a Boy Scout distracted by unpredictable erections.
Hailey Fowler found a welcome exuberance in lisping Logainne, while Liam Stevens’ Coneybear was endearingly lost in the world. Ashley King made Marcy suitably world-weary. And Keeley Teuber, with an infectious grin, presented lonely Olive in a truly charming manner.
The reliably funny Kyle Kushnir was a standout. As William Barfee (he insists it rhymes with “parfait”), Kushnir was a plaid-pantaloons-wearing maniac, roaring with misplaced adolescent bravado and displaying a canny knack for physical comedy.
The singing — to recorded tracks using body mics — is of a solid standard, although on this particular night some performers needed to project more. Emilee Nimetz, playing a spelling-bee adjudicator, is particularly good at nailing tricky high notes. And co-adjudicator/vice-principal John Manson brought a welcome quirkiness to his role.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee uses pre-selected audience participants to join in the spelling bee. On opening night, they included Times Colonist writers Jack Knox and Louise Dickson, as well as director Keith Digby.
Pat Rundell’s direction is bold and confident. The show’s tone is somewhat cartoonish (reflected in Diane Madill’s colourful costumes), yet Rundell has taken care to ensure the hijinks don’t become so broad as to overshadow poignant moments. The choreography by Leah Moreau is appropriately simple and ebullient.
A recent UVic theatre graduate, Barbara Clearihue has emerged as one of the city’s most promising designers. Her blue and yellow set of a high-school gym is bold, yet wonderfully detailed. We get the requisite key elements, such as bleachers, a basketball hoop, a giant block-lettered logo for the “Putnam Peacocks.”
At the same time, Clearihue and company are careful about small touches: the red exit-sign light, the working institutional clock on the wall, smudged fingerprints on a doorway.
Lighting design by Karrie Ayotte is also impressive, clearly delineating cutaway scenes.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is lighter-than-air entertainment. William Finn’s music, while inarguably catchy, is unrelentingly bouncy and not always memorable.
Still, who among us can resist a song such as My Unfortunate Erection, which mentions an “unfortunate protuberance” that “seems to have its own exuberance.”
Ditto for such rhymes as “hairdo” and “dare do.”
