REVIEW: Flawless, Laser-Focused Performances Spell Winner for Latest Music Guild Show
The relatable, sympathetic world of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is kind of like a school “island of misfit toys.”
As someone who felt out of place and awkward throughout my pre-teen and teen years (some things don’t change), I could totally identify with the quirky, awkward group of six students who in this wonderful show are vying to win the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves a champion! At least the losers get a juice box.
Directed by the sure hand of Music Guild veteran Mike Turczynski, I love everything about this production at Prospect Park, 1584 34th Ave., Moline.
Winner of the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards for Best Book, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (premiered off-Broadway in 2005, and done at Moline’s Black Box Theatre in December 2017) has charmed audiences across the country with its effortless wit and humor. Featuring a fast-paced, funny and unpretentious book by Rachel Sheinkin and a truly fresh, vibrant and accessible score by William Finn, this bee is a natural crowd-pleaser and handled with intensity, care and meticulous detail by this amazing Music Guild cast.
Adrienne Jane Evans in “Spelling Bee,” whose part will be performed by Joie Stoefen on Aug. 15.
Turczynski saw so much talent at his auditions, that he made the wise move to cast two actors as swings, meaning they had to be prepared to understudy three roles each (to go on replacing a main actor for whatever reason). Those two – incoming Augustana sophomore Eli Swailes and 2024 Drake alum Joie Stoefen — were scheduled to play two different parts for public display.
I saw them knock it out of the park at last Thursday night’s invited dress as Chip Tolentino and Olive Ostrovsky, respectively. It was like they were born to play these characters.
Chip is the defending bee champion, relatively social and athletic, he’s flustered at this bee as he finds puberty hitting at an inopportune moment, hiding his groin in a wacky scene that turns even funnier as he’s the first to misspell a word, and be eliminated. He returns as a bitter seller of concessions and cries out in song at the top of Act II about his “unfortunate erection.” Swailes was fearless, cringeworthy and oversharing in wailing about a sensitive topic most men would be utterly embarrassed to reveal.
The spellers in the Music Guild “Spelling Bee” are played by (L-R) Megan Warren, Jack Bevans, Brian Heffernan, Luke Vermiere, Lauren VanSpeybroeck, and Adrienne Jane Evans.
Stoefen was equally as revealing as the shy Olive, who’s addicted to words, and longs to be loved by her parents – but her mom is on a nine-month retreat in India, and her dad is an absent workaholic. Her deeply affecting Act II power ballad, “The I Love You Song,” is for me the best number in the musical, a trio with Olive’s parents, sung here by Jess Fah and Casey Scott, who are normally the bee moderator Rona and comfort counselor Mitch.
It’s inspired by the bee word, “chimerical,” which means imaginary or unrealistic, and to Olive that is exactly what she dreams in the song lyrics, which overflow with profound love and attention from her folks, something that’s missing in real life. The three on the Guild stage showed off powerful, surging, shattering voices, and the effect was poignant, haunting and gorgeous.
Jess Fah and Jeremy Mahr in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at Music Guild, Moline, Aug. 7 to 16.
Even more amazingly, Stoefen and Swailes will return during the show’s second weekend, in the Saturday, Aug. 15 performance, in totally different roles – she as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (normally played by Adrienne Jane Evans), and he as Leaf Coneybear (normally played by Jack Bevans). The regular performances last weekend and this weekend feature Brian Heffernan as Chip, and Lauren VanSpeybroeck as Olive.
Eli Swailes
Joie Stoefen
The depth of this “Spelling Bee” cast is completed with Luke Vermeire as William Barfee (that’s pronounced “Bar-FAY), who has a trick to spell out words with his feet; Megan Warren as Marcy Park, a high-strung, overachieving perfectionist who can speak six languages; and Jeremy Mahr as the caustic vice principal Douglas Panch, who’s in love with Rona. One of my favorite lines of his is a word for one of four guest spellers: “zoo,” as in “Billy went to the zoo, that only featured a dog. It was a shih tzu.”
I also love how totally focused and in the zone each of the actors is in their part – though Evans, Warren, Bevans, Mahr, and Vermeire are well-known in local theater, they throw themselves 1,000% into creating these specific characters, which are indelible and unforgettable.
Jack Bevans goes airborne during Music Guild’s new production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
Bevans and Scott are especially impressive in playing more than one role, including as Logainne’s flamingly flamboyant gay dads. As the helmet and cape-wearing space cadet Leaf, Bevans locks it in, and is gleefully unpredictable, physical, and gets even more focused when he successfully spells words in a hypnotic trance. Both flighty red-heads, it seems like Leaf and Logainne could be siblings.
Evans is characteristically exuberant, and I loved how she hugged some of the guest spellers during the first half at the Thursday dress rehearsal I saw. Vermeire and Warren also bring terrific laser-focused intelligence and dedication to their parts. These kids may not have been the most popular in their school, but you can already imagine futures where they achieve great things.
The cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at Music Guild in Moline, running Aug. 7-16.
I also love how this cast reunites three key players from last year’s Guild “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” – Casey Scott, who was the title role, VanSpeybroeck, and Fah. One remarkable scene features both rapid-fire words, with each contestant moving quickly through the line, preceded by a special slow-motion, with very deep, low enunciation of the words as if emerging through lava in a wind tunnel.
Congrats to this whole “Spelling Bee” team, and Turczynski deserves special praise for using swings (which his former Augie colleague Shelley Cooper did regularly), and giving more talented performers the opportunity to be part of these casts. I understand Stoefen and Swailes will be playing their third roles at the Guild pickup rehearsal Wednesday night (wow!).
“Spelling Bee” performances continue Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 13-15, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults; $15 for kids 12 and under, available by calling the box office at 309-762-6610 or by visiting the QCMG website, www.qcmusicguild.com.
Megan Warren in the new Guild production.
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