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The 25th Annual
Putnam County Spelling Bee
Presented by: Catchment Players of Darebin
Venue: Banule Theatre -
Viewbank College, Heidelberg
Reviewer:
Emmalee Bell
Date Reviewed:
Sunday 29th March 2009
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
started its life as an improvised play, grew into a quirky
off-Broadway musical and blossomed into a Tony Award-winning show,
attracting the award for Best Book of a Musical in 2005. This
production by Catchment Player of Darebin is the Victorian
non-professional premiere and a smart choice of show for a company
fighting for survival. While it is not earth-shattering theatre,
the endearing story of a group of dysfunctional primary school
students competing in a spelling bee contest and simple one act
format makes for an enjoyable evening (or afternoon as it was for
me) at the theatre.
The
move from Darebin Arts Centre to the Banyule Theatre was a good one,
not only financially, but artistically as well. Already being a
school auditorium, the scene was set the moment the audience walked
into the venue. The ambience was further heightened by an
impressive effort to decorate the foyer in the theme of the show
including Sesame Street music and children’s drawings.
Directors Ang Cuy and Stuart Dodge have assembled a strong ensemble
cast and should be commended for their seamless direction. Simple
productions such as Spelling Bee can be a trap for less
skilful directors, appearing too static without the considered
direction and fun choreography that Stuart and Ang utilised.
However, I did think that they were too subtle in their direction of
Rona Lisa Peretti (Natasha Bassett) and Vice Principal Panch (Nathan
Soutar). Without an overt treatment of the interactions between the
pair, some wonderful comic opportunities were underplayed and the
“where are they now” finale didn’t make as much sense.
The 25th
Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
is a character actors dream, with each performer getting the
opportunity to sink their teeth into a highly stylised caricature
with an obviously comic trait. There is Chip Tolentino (Stephen
Valeri) with his “unfortunate erection”, Logainne
Schwartandgrubeniere (Helena Plazzer) with her lisp and overbearing
gay fathers, Leaf Coneybear (Glen Barnett) with his comically short
attention span, William Barfee (Jenter Zilm) with his mucous
disorder and magic foot spelling technique, Marcy Park (Lisa
Pilkington) with her know-it-all demeanor, Olive Ostrovsky (Kate
Burns) with her unnatural love of the dictionary, Mitch Mahoney
(Blake Testro) with his tough approach to comfort counselling, Rona
Lisa Peretti with her obsession for spelling bees and Vice Principal
Panch with his scarily short fuse. Each actor was both committed
and well-suited to their roles creating a truly balanced ensemble
cast with no evident weak-link or stand-out performance (although I
must tell you to look out for Blake Testro’s hilarious portrayal of
Logainne’s gay, Latino, father).
While
William Finn’s songs are not vocally demanding, it is their lyrics
that progress the story and diction needs to be spot on. In the
opening number, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling
Bee” I found the diction a little bit sloppy and I also had trouble
identifying which character was singing. However as the show
progressed both issues settled and the performers all did a
fantastic job of carrying their characterisations through their
songs.
The 25th
Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
is a charming, light-hearted musical with a wide ranging appeal.
The cast are obviously enjoying themselves and they infect the
audience with a sense of fun. As it only runs until Sunday and
the theatre has quite a small capacity, make sure you book to avoid
disappointment.
Emmalee’s passion for musical theatre developed in her home-town of
Warrnambool where she was in 18 productions before her 21st
birthday. After moving to Perth to complete an Arts Management
degree at WAPPA, she performed in Les Miserables and the King and I
at the Regent Theatre. Since moving to Melbourne in 2005, Emmalee
performed in a concert production of Ragtime with Monash University
Choral Society, played the Bakers Wife in Into the Woods (MD
Productions), played Maria in The Sound of Music (Altona City
Theatre), went incognito as a pit singer in Cats (CLOC), played
Frauline Kost in Cabaret (ARC) and was in the Producers with
Whitehorse Musical Theatre. Emmalee is currently taking a break
from performing while she concentrates on her real-life role as a
marriage celebrant and fulfils her dream of travelling to New York
in June.
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