Orlando theater review: The cast of this '25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' deserves the oversized check

photo via Theater West End

You can almost smell the eight-grade angst, can't you?

As I stood on the sidewalk last Friday evening awaiting opening night of Theater West End’s latest production, I overheard multiple groups of tipsy passers-by loudly argue over why the Sanford venue was hosting a spelling contest. I suppose it’s a shame that William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin didn’t append “The Musical!!!” to the title of their 2005 Tony-winner, because if those folks had come inside the venue, they very likely would have crepusculed themselves with laughter.

Unlike your average Broadway hit based on a familiar movie or historical figure, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee mines a middle-American middle-school competition for both comedy and pathos, with winning results. And although it can’t compete with the scale and star power of the original Circle in the Square production, director Tara Kromer and her high-spirited cast do this ode to academic oddballs proud, despite a few rough patches. 

The most important thing Kromer and company capture is the adolescent energy that keeps the play’s pace popping, particularly through the song-stuffed first act. Finding the proper tone for this type of comedy — neither too twee nor overly cartoony — is a tough balancing act, which the ensemble of adults imitating tweens largely achieves.

Kit Cleto reprises the role of sinusitus-stricken student William Barfee, in which he was hilariously histrionic six years ago at the Garden Theatre (Danny Sanchez understudied the role on opening night). Melina Kay is likewise a veteran at playing overscheduled prodigy Marcy Park, and karate-chops her way through her exhausting aria, “I Speak Six Languages,” with aplomb. Sophie Cooper’s Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre is a dynamo of anti-DeSantis activism and saliva; and producers Derek Critzer and Quinn Roberts both take the stage as her rainbow-wearing gay dads, as well as quirky contestants. 

While the children piqued my curiosity, at this Bee it was the adults who held my interest. Danielle Lang makes host Rona Lisa Peretti eerily intense, like a Stepford wife as a dog show commentator. Brent Jordan’s simmering slow burn as the increasingly unhinged Vice Principal Douglas Panch made his inevitable blowout beautiful to behold. And Jacob “Gates” Eaddy (who did double duty choreographing the naive dance numbers) gives comfort counselor Mitch Mahoney a teddybear-esque warmth, as well as the warmest singing voice in the ensemble.

But for me, the biggest delight of this Bee is Elina Moon as Olive Ostrovosky, whose aching for her absent parents forms the emotional heart at the core of this otherwise lightweight lark. Moon is the show’s only performer who might actually pass for an eighth-grader, but she inhabits Olive with three-dimensional empathy decades beyond her years.

Unfortunately, a mixed bag of technical elements at the opening performance prevented me from awarding this production the champion’s cup and oversized check. Critzer’s rock & roll lighting design and Bonnie Sprung’s realistic scenic painting lend interest to the simple set, but although Sheinkin’s dialogue was mostly intelligible, many of Finn’s witty lyrics were lost in a muddy sound mix that overemphasized the synthetic backing tracks. (I suspect the cast couldn’t hear themselves either, because their harmonies sometimes veered from “adorably off-key” to undeniably pitchy.)

If they can clean up those issues, then the biggest winners at this 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will be those in the audience — whether or not they sign up to participate on stage and earn a losers’ juice box — who will enjoy starting off 2024 with a big s-m-i-l-e.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” runs through Jan. 28 at Theater West End, 115 W. First St., Sanford. Tickets are available on the Theater West End website.