{"id":112324,"date":"2026-09-21T21:16:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=112324"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:24:25","slug":"novato-theater-company-imbues-musical-spelling-bee-with-energy-comedy-and-glee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/novato-theater-company-imbues-musical-spelling-bee-with-energy-comedy-and-glee\/","title":{"rendered":"Novato Theater Company imbues musical \u2018Spelling Bee\u2019 with energy, comedy, and glee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bulk of cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Novato Theater Company. Photo by Jere Torkelsen.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By WOODY WEINGARTEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some may attend The Novato Theater Company\u2019s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee expecting less than perfect performances, mistakes, and unclear words because it\u2019s a community theater production.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll be deliciously surprised. The show\u2019s phenomenal, on any level anyone might judge.<\/p>\n

No bad performances. No screw-ups. No muffled words.<\/p>\n

The fun begins with the first song and continues throughout. It\u2019s most clearly shown through the limber, Ray Bolger-like legs of Dominic Marco Canty as speller William Morris Barf\u00e9e; the wild-eyed, pigtailed Carly Harrington (inhabiting the body of Logainne \u201cSchwartzy\u201d SchwartzandGruenierre, daughter of two dads who\u2019s an endless activist for this cause and that); and Marlee Ostrom, who with flying red cape and yellow helmet zips back and forth in her gender-bending role as Leaf Coneybear.<\/p>\n

The rest of the nine-member ensemble acquit themselves marvelously well, not missing an opportunity to make the perma-smile on audience faces deepen.<\/p>\n

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Nicole Stanley (center) communicates with spirits of absent parents, Dani Innocenti Beem and Nick James Augusta. Photo by Jere Torkelsen.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Best of the 24 musical numbers include \u201cMy Favorite Moment of the Bee,\u201d a three-part tune by Dani Innocenti-Beem as Rona Lisa Peetti, past winner and bee host, and \u201cThe I Love You Song,\u201d poignantly sung by Nicole Stanley as Olive Ostrovsky, with her typically absent parents joining her in a cameo at tune\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

The 25th Annual\u2026 features a handful of role-changing cameos, in fact, by actors doubling or tripling their personas. And, similarly, Marilyn Izdebski is her usual triple threat, fashioning the sprightly choreography, casting the production along with the director and music conductor, and overseeing the consistently unobtrusive but effective lighting (except when it flashes frenziedly during \u201cPandemonium\u201d).<\/p>\n

The Tony Award-winning show, which ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2008, starts in Novato by displaying bursts of energy, an aspect that will be emphasized throughout. Original lyrics and book, which explore contestants\u2019 inner hopes, feelings, identities, and home life, are by Rachel Sheinkin. William Finn composed the music. Christopher Hewitt artistically conducts three other musicians and plays keyboards for this rendition, making sure the rhythms don\u2019t override the ubiquitous wit, puns, and physical comedy.<\/p>\n

Director Larry Williams has ensured that, at any given moment, the quirky, caricature-like characters are extremely bug-eyed with wonder or forlornly tight-lipped.<\/p>\n

Four audience volunteers are \u2014 surprise! \u2014 smoothly added to the spellers\u2019 lineup (and, as might be expected, equally smoothly eliminated one by one by impossibly difficult words).<\/p>\n

Some set-pieces are ecstatically gleeful \u2014 such as a Pledge of Allegiance in which no two kids are on the same page; a boy eliminated because he\u2019s crushing on a girl in the crowd and awkwardly hiding his erection (which he gloriously sings about); and a personal appearance by Jesus.<\/p>\n

Joyous, too, are some character delineations: The boy who spells out the words on the floor with his \u201cmagic foot\u201d and a girl who spells them out on her forearm.<\/p>\n

And local viewers can\u2019t help but grin at current references to Zandaya, GLP-1 weight-loss pills, and Donald J. Trump\u2019s banning three progressive media outlets from the White House and proclaiming that \u201cwe should all spell the woke-iest words we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The set, which immediately places theatergoers in a high school gym replete with grandstands, a scoreboard, a basketball hoop, and a bee-funding ad by local optometrists, was designed by Perry Nelson. Playful costumes by Christina Stephan and Cheryl Evans add to the exuberance evidenced by the cast.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, unlike almost all Broadway extravaganzas, the 1\u00be-hour show totally avoids four-letter words (not counting love).<\/p>\n

So remind me: How do you spell sluice? And fun?<\/p>\n

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will run at the Novato Theater Company, 5420 Nave Drive, Novato, through Oct. 11. Tickets: $28.50 to $40.50 (plus $1.50 booking fee). Info: info@novatotheatercompany.org or 415-883-4498.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Woody Weingarten, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at <\/em>voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, <\/em>https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com and<\/em> https:\/\/vitalitypress.com. His books include Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner\u2019s breast cancer, aimed at male caregivers; MysteryDates \u2014 How to keep the sizzle in your<\/em> relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of his newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that he co-authored with his then 8-year-old granddaughter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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