The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
at Suncoast Community High School

Reviewed on November 9, 2013

NameSchoolPublication/Broadcasts
North Broward Preparatory School
North Broward Preparatory School
North Broward Preparatory School
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
Stoneman Douglas High School



Josie Roth
North Broward Preparatory School

Submitted for publication to

"I knew that word, G-- D--- it!" When it comes to competitions, luck has as much to do with winning as with skill. All at once hysterical and touching, Suncoast Community High School's production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee showed us just that.

'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' has its roots in improv, having first been performed by improvisational troupe The Farm in New York. The play was then expanded into a musical, with a book by Rachel Sheinkin and music and lyrics by William Finn, and premiered on Broadway in 2005 to critical acclaim. The musical follows contestants who vie for the top spot in their county spelling bee, the winner of which will advance to the national competition.

Suncoast High School took the challenge of performing this sidesplitting show head-on. The included audience members as spelling bee contestants worked to Suncoast's advantage in bringing dozens of priceless moments and allowing the actors to demonstrate their clear improvisational skills. The cast as a whole showed an outrageous amount of energy throughout the production which proved to be advantageous in the multiple high-energy ensemble musical numbers such as "Pandemonium" and "Spelling Montage."

Nathalie Andrade as Olive Ostrovsky, a timid contestant who yearns for a parental presence, showcased both her vocal and acting abilities during such emotional songs as "The I Love You Song" and "My Friend the Dictionary." Her clear understanding of her character lent an aspect of sincerity to an otherwise over-the-top musical. William Barfée, her dorky competitor-turned-love-interest, was portrayed by John McLellan as the quintessential "geek"—nasally voice, allergies, and quirks abound. McLellan brought the laughs in "Magic Foot," but also managed to explore the emotional depth of his character through his relationship and clear chemistry with Andrade's Olive.

Among a plethora of supporting actors, two showstoppers were Leaf Coneybear (played by Justin Rubenstein) and Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre (played by Samantha Bashwiner), two spelling bee contestants with some quirks of their own. Rubenstein stayed true to his character, a home-schooled, sensitive oddball, throughout the entire show—even when he wasn't the focus of a scene, one would be hard-pressed not to find him making funny faces or playing with his cape. Bashwiner, as well, hilariously portrayed the spastic, anxiety-ridden Logainne, and her interactions with her fathers (played by William Lindsey and Liam Fineman) were highlights of the performance.

Tech aspects of the show ran relatively smoothly. There were a few instances during musical numbers where the actors' vocals were difficult to hear under the loud orchestra; that being said, light and sound cues on the whole were rarely late and, when they were, they did not detract from the actors' performances.

Ultimately, Suncoast High embraced ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' with gusto and zeal that one could feel even from the audience. They showed us that "Life is Pandemonium," and that even though life may have its competitions, it is possible for everyone to win in the end. The audience sure did!

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Briana Earhart
North Broward Preparatory School

Submitted for publication to

Pandemonium: wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar. Can I use it in a sentence? Sure! During Suncoast Community High School's rendition of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, pandemonium broke out on stage as students sang, danced, and spelled their way to first place.

Book and lyrics by Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn respectively, Spelling Bee emerged from an improvisational play entitled C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E by Rebecca Feldman. It ran on Broadway in 2005 and won a Tony for Best Book. The show brings up audience members to participate in the bee, allowing for character/audience interaction. Beginning with Rona Lisa Peretti reminiscing about her own championship days in Putnam County's third annual bee, the stage bursts into life as each character enters and sings about their "favorite moment of the bee."

As a whole, the cast blended well vocally and maintained most of the harmonies. Though some students were trying to act instead of living in the moment, the energy escalated as the show went on with better projection and character commitment.

Liam Fineman (Jesus) and Katie Mechlin (Rexx) were distinct in their roles. Fineman displayed superior skills on roller-blades and with comedic deliver that had the audience laughing throughout his limited time on stage. Mechlin showed extensive character work as the multiple-personality-ridden Rexx by changing both body language and voice to distinguish the differences between the two personalities.

Samantha Bashwiner (Logainne) did a commendable job in her supporting role by keeping her speech impediment consistent and having impeccable comedic timing. Trevor Durham (Panch) was a delight as the middle-aged vice-principal. He delivered his lines deadpan and monotone, creating a distinct separation from the volatile side of Panch seen in act two.

John McLellan (Barfée) and Nathalie Andrade (Olive) had powerful chemistry with each other and developed their characters effectively throughout the show, showcased in songs such as, "Second (Part 1)." Their expert mastering of the stage was a pleasure to witness.

Tech as a whole ran relatively smoothly. Lights were professional in design, but could have been executed more efficiently to show the difference between the fantasies in character's heads and moments of the actual bee. Solo lines were often lost due to an imperfect sound balance between the mics and the professional-sounding orchestra. Makeup, executed perfectly in design, barely showed up on stage, making it hard to tell which characters were supposed to be older and younger.

Overall, the cast executed improvisational elements smoothly and naturally especially with audience members brought on stage to "bee" a part of it all. Students received a standing ovation, certainly causing P-A-N-D-E-M-O-N-I-U-M. Pandemonium.


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Neil Goodman
North Broward Preparatory School

Submitted for publication to

What do you get when you mix hormonal pre-teens, an ex-convict, and a lust for competition—utter pandemonium? This hilarious combination was admirably brought together in Suncoast Community High's "The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee" by Rachel Sheinkin.

Some call pitting the lowest of the low on the middle school social ladder against each other torture, but here it's called a spelling bee! In its 2005 Broadway production, the show received six Tony nominations and won two awards, including Best Book. Set in the ambiguously located county of Putnam, six socially-confused middle school students compete in spelling some of the least used and most difficult words in the English language. The contestants face a myriad of challenges along the way, such as apathetic pronouncers, meddling dads, and untimely erections. When only two of the unfortunate bed-wetters remain, who will disappoint their already embarrassed parents, and who will justify their months of practice and low friend count with the first place trophy?

Leading the charge of the misunderstood middle school spellers is William Barfeé, a phlegm-ridden nose breather with a magic foot played by John McLellan. McLellan took advantage of his character's idiosyncrasies with his quick comedic timing and outrageous character voice. Olive Ostrovsky, played by Nathalie Andrade, had a clearly developed character arc, which made her character easy to connect with. Andrade, with her great vocals, was a clear standout on stage. The cynical and apathetic word pronouncer, Douglas Patch, played by Trevor Durham, kept the show going with his on-point delivery of unscripted example sentences for the speller's words.

Rounding out the intrepid cast of characters, Leaf Coneybear, played by Justin Rubenstein, never broke his hilarious delivery. Rubenstein's physicality and stage presence made Leaf unforgettable. Jesus, played by Liam Fineman, took advantage of every second of his limited stage time. Using his grand stage presence and high level of energy, Fineman embraced the ludicrousness of his character and induced laughter every time he set roller-blade on stage.

Technically, the show ran smoothly throughout. Featuring an array of different lighting styles and many sound scenes, this technically difficult show was boldly executed. The set, although simple, served its purpose effectively.

The show was not without faults, as some of the characters' development left a little to be desired. Some of the ensemble's energy levels were not as high as they were in standout moments. Some of the show's unscripted, improvisational aspects were awkward at times. Technically, the makeup was not always visible from the audience, and lighting cues were sometimes a hair too slow to make the dream sequences work.

Bringing us all back to the horrors of middle school, Suncoast Community High did a praise-worthy job at performing a consistently entertaining show that left the audience chuckling to themselves throughout, and, no doubt, all the way home.



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Kaylin Raby
St. Thomas Aquinas High School

Submitted for publication to

Syzygy: S-Y-Z-Y-G-Y, syzygy. And with that, the 3rd Annual Bee was won. This format of "bee spelling" has been around since the beginning of primary education, but with Suncoast Community High School's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, it takes on a whole new meaning. Ten prepubescent middle schoolers battle it out for the championship in a local spelling competition, chaperoned by a quirky hostess, a delinquent comfort counselor and a slightly disturbed word pronouncer.

The musical is based upon an original improvisational one-act play written by Rebecca Feldman and performed by her comedy troupe, The Farm. After being scripted into a full-length musical a few years later, Spelling Bee was work-shopped at the Barrington Stage Company and was completed in 2004. After running at an off-Broadway theater in 2005, Spelling Bee premiered on Broadway later that year and ran until 2008, when it won two Tony Awards.

Playing the longtime hostess of the bee (and former champion with "syzygy"), Rona Lisa Peretti, was Rhiannon Karp. She remained the constant of the bee and provided transitions effectively. Her vocals were very good, and although strained at times, she was one of the most successful vocalists of the entire show. Her partner and word pronouncer, Douglas Panche, was played by Trevor Durham. In a show that requires a bit of improvisation with the crowd and the script, Trevor did a fantastic job. His monotone, but well characterized voice, fit perfectly and was remarkably held up throughout the show. His unhelpful, and often racy, contextual sentences were hilarious, making him a favorite of the crowd.

Playing the prominent female role of Spelling Bee was Nathalie Andrade as Olive Ostrovsky, a lonely girl who dreams that her neglectful father will finally show up to see her win the bee. Nathalie stayed in character at all times and was the best vocalist of the show. All of her songs were funny, a little sad, and very enjoyable to watch. Her new-found friend William Barfée was played by John MecLellan, who slowly evolved into the principal male character. Although his beginning was slow, his energy picked up in Act Two, where he developed his character very effectively and did not disappoint.

A stand-out of this production was Samantha Bashwiner as Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre. With a lisp as unfortunate her last name, Logainne struggles to find her independence amidst two pushy fathers who demand success. Samantha did an amazing job with her character, her speech impediment and her vocals. She was one of the most engaged performers and always kept the slower scenes going with her high energy. And not to be left out, Kyle Cortes played last year's county champion, Chip Tolentino. Easily the most successful male vocalist of the cast, Chip not only did a great job with his solos, but also made a big impression in the little stage time he was given.

The tech work of this musical is essentially minimalist, so the production crews had to make an impression with little material. The set crew constructed bleachers for the contestants to sit on, which did their job, but unfortunately made it a little difficult for the performers to maneuver. A surprising addition to this show was The Suncoast High Orchestra, whose members were phenomenal and should be commended for their great work. Lastly, the lighting crew had a tougher job than any of the other tech crews, with many light cues to signify flashbacks, time speeds, and solos. Headed by Nick Pollack, this crew did a great job and was almost always on time for their cues.

Overall, Suncoast High's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was enjoyable to watch, with comedic chaperones and surprisingly deep middle schoolers. The cast and crew should be very proud of their performance and deserve much praise.

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Carly Sadicario
Stoneman Douglas High School

Submitted for publication to

S-T-U-P-E-N-D-U-O-U-S is one of the many words that can be used to describe Suncoast Community High School's rendition of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is a partially improvisational, comical musical conceived by Rebecca Feldman, with Book by Rachel Sheinkin, and music and lyrics by William Finn. The show centers around six main spelling bee contestants, a spelling bee host, and an announcer of the spelling bee. Each production can add their own characters or take from the audience. They also choose some of their own hilarious words to add to the show. Each character has a weird quirk that adds to the comical atmosphere of the musical.

The entire cast showed extraordinary energy. Although some characters stood out more than others and had a tendency to overshadow moments that should have had been focused on, they kept in character throughout the entire show. Since basically each character was on stage the entire time, there were moments when they should have been doing something relating to their character, but didn't. In general, the entire cast was consistent in their tone of voices, accents, facial expressions, and movements.

The runner up of The Spelling Bee, Olive Ostrovsky, portrayed by Nathalie Andrade, talked into her hand before spelling a word aloud so she didn't say it wrong by accident. Andrade depicted this shy character flawlessly and expanded her growth as a contestant seamlessly. Her superior vocals were clearly showcased in songs such as "The I Love You Song" and "My Friend the Dictionary." Her counterpart and winner of The Spelling Bee, William Barfée, depicted by John McLellan, was a phlegm-ridden nerd who used a magic foot to write out the word in order to visualize the correct spelling of the word. McLellan kept the phlegm noises consistent and portrayed his character exactly like the stereotypical nerd.

Justin Rubenstein, who played the character of Leaf Coneybear, kept in character at all times. His movement highlighted the wacky, quirky characteristics that make the audience love Leaf. He handled the extra difficulty of guiding the added audience members with ease. The announcer of the words, Vice Principal Douglas Panch, played by Trevor Durham, kept a consistent monotone and straight face throughout the entire show. He only cracked when his character was supposed to. Logainne, played by Samantha Bashwiner, should also be praised for her consistency with her lisp.

The extremely difficult lighting of the show moved from one cue to the next flawlessly. Although there could have been a more dramatic change in lights in a few scenes, the lights reflected the tone of each scene. Although they, at points, overshadowed the actors, the orchestra did a fantastic job at keeping with the pace of the show.

Suncoast High School's rendition of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" not only retained its J-O-C-U-L-A-R roots, but also showed us that not everything is about being V-I-C-T-O-R-I-O-U-S.

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