The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - The Review

Drury Lane Theater at Water Tower
Originally uploaded by Michael_L.

Last evening The Boyfriend and I went to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, it was our first show of the Broadway Series that The Boyfriend got us for Christmas, you can read all about it HERE.

I met him downtown and we had a nice dinner at Food Life at Water Tower Place (it had been a while since we were both there, and it didn't seem to be as good as it was the last time, but it was still a nice meal before the show.) Actually this theater is right around the corner from Water Tower so it was an easy walk and the funny thing was when we were waiting for the show to start we saw a lot of people at the show that we had seen earlier at dinner....I guess we all had the same idea huh?

Well the theater is small, very intimate, very new. The seats were very comfortable and it was beautiful stadium seating with nicely offset rows. It was nice to not have to constantly look "around" someone's head, and at the same time not have to worry about blocking someone elses' view.

You're probably wondering about the show aren't you? Well it's exactly what the title says, it's an Annual Spelling Bee in Putnam County, so there's a whole bunch of kids (played by Adults of course) all from different schools who are competing to bee the county champion. One girl's mother is on an Ashram in India and her Father is somewhere, we don't know. One girl has ponytails, a pronounced lisp and gay-inter-racial fathers (Dan Dad and Carl Dad) her BM (Birth Mother) sends her cards occasionally. There's the Cub Scout who was last years champion, the homeschool kid who only made it because the winner was having her bat mitzvah and the first runner up was going. Then there was the asian girl from the catholic school who was "all business" and the nerdy kid, named William Barfy (pronounced Bar-fay) who writes the words out with his "magic foot"

Before the show, people had an opportunity to sign up to be part of the Bee and as the show started they called up 4 people from the audience.

The show was funny, campy and irreverent. It was a little bit racist and played into stereotypes (sort of like Avenue Q but nowhere near that level) but was very cute. The show was short, only about 90 minutes without an intermission but the time went by very quickly.

There were lots of "laughs out loud" from the audience, which is always a good thing when going to see a comedy. Lots of funny lines, great use of the stage/set/backdrops, the "dance" numbers were sassy and the cast was very talented.

It's great that it's in a small theater because I imagine that on a stage like the Cadillac, it would be totally lost.

It's not as good as: Avenue Q

But it's better than: Rent

Recommendation: Go see it if you're able, it's a cute show.