Young innocent children attending a spelling bee competition, what could go wrong? Well, these children are competitive and under pressure, pressure that may just come to a boiling point in this wonderfully feel good and nifty musical. Meet the contestants of the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, or perhaps even become one of them yourself, but one thing is for certain you’ll be in for a right treat and a few emotional roller coasters.
Prepare yourself for almost 2 hours of pure laughter, charm and talent with this fun little musical. It’s true to say that when the cast is having fun so is the audience, you could tell that the team thoroughly enjoy the show and in doing so never miss a beat. We find ourselves watching the classic “odd balls” of societies youth: the nerd, the perfectionist, the cutesy loner, the spoilt brad, the kid wearing a cape (there’s always one) and the young boy who’s just hit puberty. Whilst we play on these stereo types for comedic value, we also get to explore why each character is the way they are through upbeat and catchy show tunes. At times darker family themes are also explored, after all children are simply a product of what their parents have made them to be, and we get the joy of watching these children break away from their parental influences and grow as human beings.
The cast are what really make this show. Kayleigh O’Grady leads the way as our spelling bee host, with beautiful vocals and a charming personality, she displays a character that has past experience running in and winning spelling bee’s, so she gleefully revels in the ups and downs of the competition. Juxtaposing the calming demeanour of Rona Lisa is Vice Principal (the Vice is very important) Douglas Panch played buy the talented Andrew Lodge, his energy is wonderfully chaotic and being an improvisation heavy role, Lodge is quick witted and impressively on the ball. As for our contestants: Nina Barnett plays the overachieving and obnoxious Marcy Park well, she is cold and unlikable at first but successfully wins over her audience as the layers of her character unfold. Flora Henderson is adorable as the nervous daddy’s girl afraid of failure and Jack Stewart’s voice is definitely a stand out. Kirsty Young is an automatic favourite as cape wearing Leaf Coneybear and Benjy Jensen’s performance as Mitch is sweet and you could say saintly… Andrew Gardiner hits all the right comedic notes as pompous William Barfee as well as impressively all the right musical notes in his songs, vocally Gardiner is a powerhouse. Last but certainly not least we have Ashleigh More who plays the sweet Olive impeccably, you would not question her performance as a small child for a second, her voice is perfectly manipulated from start to finish and her solos are heart felt and the pure innocence of the character streams from More’s every movement and word.
Overall, this show is probably my favourite show of the fringe so far with: easy to follow feel good songs, exploration of the mind of children and pressures that they can face and visually some fantastic choreography and costuming. My only singular fault would be that microphones would not go amiss as at times it can be a bit of a strain to hear some of the performers, other than that this is a fringe must see for musical theatre lovers.
It must also be noted that there are two different productions of this show at this year’s fringe, as I have not seen the other one, I cannot comment however this production is by C&C Productions and runs at The Space @ Niddry Street daily until the 24th August (excluding 18th). Times vary depending on the date.
Buy tickets at: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | Musicals and Opera | Edinburgh Festival Fringe (edfringe.com)
Reviewer: Beth Eltringham
Reviewed: 13th August 2024
North West End UK Rating: