3rd Act Productions Presents: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Written by Leah Kilde. Graphic by Brett Allen.
A spelling bee took place on Sunday, February 16th, in the Arnold Hall Auditorium. More specifically, 3rd Act Productions presented the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. From the beginning, the audience was made aware that they would be involved in the production. Directors and club members walked through the audience looking for a handful of spellers who they needed to “see at the check-in table.” These audience members were collectedoutside the auditorium and returned to their seats a few minutes later.
As the production began, cast members entered the stage on cue with the opening song. The strength of the costume design, done by Brian Morales and Eva Daskos, and performance was immediately apparent. Even audience members without prior knowledge of the show could tell what kind of character each cast member was playing. The first act featured songs that developed the characters such as “I’m Not That Smart” performed by Damien Hidelburg, as well ascomedic songs like “Magic Foot” starring Luke Fraunces. These performances were especially engaging due to choreography by Shea McLeod. The set design did not provide much room for the dancing but the actors did their best with the space provided and their cramped movements were only a little distracting.
Speaking of distracting, do you remember the audience members who were called out as spellers? Four of them were invited to participate in the show. This occurs in every production of 25th Annual, hailing from its origins as an improv show before it made its Tony Award-winning run on Broadway in 2005. Audience members selected to spell are instructed to ask for a definition and sentence for the word they’re given no matter how basic. 3rd Act Productions used this opportunity to implant jokes ranging from easy political jabs to overemphasized innuendos. The audience members only slightly diverted attention from the experience when the cast was performing group numbers. During “Pandemonium,” the audience spellers were taught the choreography on stage. A nice effort to include them before disqualifying each one from the competition and kicking off Act 2.
In act two, each performer was able to shine as the characters began growing. Zaza Acosta’s character, Marcy Park, was able to break from her prep-school perfectionist mold in “I Speak Six Languages.” The musical number had a great movement that unfortunately sacrificed the audience’s ability to hear her singing. “The I Love You Song,” performed by Delany Yurco, Spring Lawson, and Eli Waters further uncovered the parental issues of Yurco’s character beautifully. By the end of act two, each of the spellers had completed satisfying arcs, a tribute to both the performers and co-directors, Bella Griste and Eva Daskos. With the right technical support and special allowance, this show would be a pride and joy of SCAD’s performing arts and production departments. The hard work done by the cast and crew shows the true potential SCAD has for creating memorable musical theatre productions.
The playbill with graphic and cast/crew names: https://online.fliphtml5.com/mdief/xhtm/#p=1
