If you walked up to any of your closest friends and asked them “Was your childhood perfect?” how many do you think would say yes? Probably none, I think. We all have had a difficult time growing up, and the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, currently playing at the Seacoast Repertory Theater in Portsmouth, examines some of the challenges of coming of age preteens at a spelling bee.
This Tony Award winning musical examines the lives of six preteens as they face off against each other for the title of Putnam County’s spelling champion and the ultimate prize: a trip to Washington D.C. to compete in The National Spelling Bee. These six youngsters all have problems in their lives-like Olive, the friendly and sweet girl whose parents don’t have the time for her and Chip, the Boy Scout who ends up selling snacks because of a rather unfortunate “personal problem”, and the adults who help guide them along their way have problems of their own- like Mitch Mahoney, the criminal who chooses to do community service by serving as a “comfort counselor” to those spellers who got the words wrong instead of going to jail.
The actors who portray the characters are a grab bag of all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities. The amazing cast, led by director Bob Vernon, is quite wonderful, and there are some highlights. The award for scene stealing would have to go to Kevin Smith Kirkwood as Mitch Mahoney. His rapper/gangster personality is absolutely charming and somewhat oddly endearing while his vocals and smooth dance moves are an absolute scene stealer in themselves. Among the other highlights is Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, played by the wonderful Lisa McDonough. Her wildly wacky hair, endearing lisp and confused and cluttered personality make her the epitome of growing up as a confused preteen in a harsh world. Other actors who do not do so well in their roles include CJ Lewis as Leaf Coneybear , whose height makes him look more like a 17 year old then a preteen and Daniel Plimpton as Chip Tolentino, who comes across more as an embittered sex symbol than a young child. The show’s quirkiness is made all the more fun by the fact that audience members are spellers as well. In my mind, this is definitely a show well worth seeing.
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