Religious experiences, bodily malfunctions, and magic feet might not be exactly what you’d expect from any academic competition, but The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee doesn’t seem to be a regular competition. A group of eclectic and highly competitive tweens vie for the title of county spelling champion, desperate to please their families and even willing to engage in sabotage to remove any superhuman advantages.

Rona Lisa Perretti (Jessi Rogers) opened the show with a profoundly enthusiastic and nostalgic performance, honouring her past glory days as champion and bringing that same love and passion to the ‘bee’ in adulthood. Rogers’ apparent adoration for spelling was endearing and humorous and helped to bring newfound appreciation for the competition itself, which wouldn’t normally elicit such an emotional connection.

“Rogers’ apparent adoration for spelling was endearing and humorous and helped to bring newfound appreciation for the competition”

Some members of the audience were forced to develop a particularly acute connection to the show as the cast brought up new competitors for the spelling bee, and these unexpected additions were not safe from the rest of the show’s antics. Not only did they have to show off their spelling ability, but also suffered insults from the other power-hungry competitors. As funny as their sudden involvement in the ‘bee’ was, they were soon enough met with the fateful ‘ding’ of a spelling error – closely followed by receiving a consolatory juice box from Mitch Mahoney (Summer Beechey), the competition’s very own spelling welfare officer.

The entire ensemble was exceptional. Each actor delivered an energetic performance, perfectly giving light to the individual quirks and complexities of their extraordinarily different personas.

Jaeyen Lian as Chip Tolentino gave a hysterical heartbroken performance as the first speller to be eliminated – mourning his previous title as county champion. His return as a bitter snack seller and a divine vision to Marcy had the audience howling. Matthew Weatherhead maintained the same supercilious snotty intonation throughout his whole performance as William Barfee, eventually giving up on snapping back at the tragic mispronunciation of his name (it’s pronounced Barf-ay!). His concentrated shuffling to activate the magic foot never ceased to amuse the audience, and neither did his smug ‘I know’ at every success. Elena Cormican as Marcy Park was perfect as the cold, overachieving new girl – a striking antithesis to Toby Trusted’s youthful and shining portrayal of Leaf Coneybear, who was really just happy to be there.

“Each actor delivered an energetic performance, perfectly giving light to the individual quirks and complexities of their extraordinarily different personas”

There were, however, elements of deeper sadness amid the craze of the ‘bee’. Bolin Dai as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere was comically high-strung, managing to speak at the speed of lightning over her prominent lisp. However, her toxically competitive dads didn’t do much to help her. More tragic though was the lack of any concern, or even appearance, from the father of Olive Ostrovsky (Julia Da Costa). Da Costa’s worry and hopefulness for her father’s appearance reached a peak at her touching imagination of her parents’ support, which was never given. Although her father’s delay remains unresolved by the end of the show, Olive manages to get by on the kindness of Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Orlando Oliver), who thus far had maintained a staunch apathy for anything other than his colleague, Rona Lisa Peretti.

The small cast size worked perfectly in the limited space the ADC stage has to offer for musical numbers. The choreography by Alix Addinall and Tereza Nekvasilova was one of the highlights of the show, making up for the lack of standout or catchy songs in the script. Their sequences even managed to incorporate the hilariously confused audience members who had been brought onstage!

The costumes, designed by Rose Beedle, were also fantastic. They noticeably distinguished and enhanced the individual personalities of each character, nailing the niche of ‘spelling bee nerd’ (think stereotypical ASNAC with a little more colour). Emma Lewis’ set design was also flawlessly executed, making use of the tech available at the ADC to aptly enshrine the sacred spelling bee rules, and Steph Cho’s lighting design deftly accompanied the changing and heightened emotions of the jumpy tweens, although at times being slightly too dark during the more emotionally fraught moments.

Despite the comically excessive distress of the students at the possibility of being met with the decisive ‘ding’ of spelling failure, the ‘bee’ concluded with a hopeful and light-hearted insight into the spellers’ futures. Even though the ages of the students were quite hard to discern – especially given the explicit nature of some of the punchlines concerning them, as Logainne’s scandalised comment that Olive was still a virgin seemed misplaced for middle-school age – this confusion effectively added to the madness and humour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The audience might not have shown off their spelling proficiency, but they definitely weren’t in need of a consolation hug and a juice box.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is showing at The ADC Theatre until Sat 15th June 2024.