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Playhouse’s ‘Museum’ is hard-hitting satire
By Lorraine Wardle
Youngstown
The Youngstown State University Department of Theatre and Dance began its season Friday with “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” an uproariously fun musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin.
A popular show, “Spelling Bee” won two Tony awards after it premiered on Broadway in 2004. The one-act musical has a hilarious script full of ridiculous dialogue and mature humor.
Set in fictional Putnam County, the play focuses on six very different children who are competing for the spelling championship. Interspersed with the competition are funny and touching stories of their thoughts and their backgrounds.
Leading the competition are three adults, each with his or her own agenda. To fill some of the empty spots in the bee, members of the audience are invited to join the cast in the spelling competition. Though the official word pronouncer elicited huge laughs with his ridiculous sentences to explain the words, the audience participants did an excellent job of keeping up with the cast as they competed in the bee.
Director Matthew Mazuroski’s staging and fast pacing kept the play moving quickly. It flew by at about an hour, with no intermission.
The cast of college students played the three adults and six children involved in the spelling bee as well as other incidental characters throughout the production. The ensemble impressed as they performed the more than 20 songs that comprise the musical comedy. Led by musical director Nancy Andersen Wolfgang, the cast sang and harmonized beautifully.
Katie Jerome played Rona Lisa Peretti, the host of the bee and a former winner. Jerome is a powerful singer with a great stage presence. Connor Bezeredi played Mitch Mahoney, a former convict doing community service by comforting each child as he or she was eliminated. Bezeredi was an impressive performer with a great singing voice.
Mark Warchol was great as vice principal Douglas Panch, the official word pronouncer. Though Warchol is a college student, he was perfectly convincing as a middle-aged man. His hilariously deadpan delivery and grumpy facial expressions stole the show many times over.
Daniel Navabi was great as Chip Tolentino, a Boy Scout who is distracted by his competitor’s beautiful sister. Josh Fleming’s William Barfee was a perfect sloppy smart kid. His “Magic Foot” was one of the best songs in the production.
As Logainne Swartzandgrubenierre, Angelique Tanner was a confident, though lisping, kid who internally struggled with pressure from her dads. Carly Magnuson’s Marcy Park was a snotty private-school girl who excelled at everything. “I Speak Six Languages” showcased her powerful singing voice.
Zara Markman played Leaf Coneybear, an oddball, homeschooled kid whose “I’m Not That Smart” was touching and impressive. Markman also convincingly played Logainne’s dad along with Bezeredi, who was unrecognizable from his other role as Mitch.
Emily Shipley played Olive Ostrovsky, a sweet, shy girl who doesn’t get attention from her parents. In “The I Love You Song,” Shipley beautifully sang of her dream with Bezeredi as Olive’s dad, again impressing with a different character, and Jerome as Olive’s mom, tenderly singing.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is an energetic and entertaining production that shouldn’t be missed. Much of the humor is for mature audiences, so some themes may not be appropriate for children under 13.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” continues today and next Sunday at 2 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Ford Theater in Bliss Hall at YSU. For tickets, call 330- 941-3105.