The core of the drama is built into The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Many will compete, but only one will win. Yet the show avoids the brute, soul-draining competition of Jeffrey Blitz’s 2002 movie documentary Spellbound. Instead, its beguiling sweet pathos originates in Rachel Sheinkin’s one-act comedy, which lyricist William Finn expanded into this award-winning musical, which opens the Redhouse Arts Centerseason.
The six kids in the bee might be nerdy misfits, but Sheinkin’s near-caricatures are loving and empathetic. Sharper laughter is directed toward the self-important adults running the bee, like the champion real estate saleswoman Rona Piretti (Laura Austin) and a shamelessly biased word reader, assistant principal Panch (John Bixler). Recent parolee Mitch Mahoney (Temar Underwood) offers comfort to one failed contestant: a box of fruit juice, with its own straw.
