The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee proves that much more than just spelling happens at a spelling bee.

This particular bee focused on six children, each struggling with personal worries and problems typical of middle school students. Even though at the end of the bee there was only one winner, it seemed as though all of children in the show were left with a better understanding of themselves.

Presented by Tympanium Euphorium in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater this past weekend, the musical was technically just a very long one-act. It required only one set that consisted of a modestly furnished middle school gymnasium with everything necessary for a middle school spelling bee. There were bleachers for the spelling contestants on one side, a table for the moderators on the other and, crucially, a single microphone directly in center stage for the contestants to come up to and spell.The actors managed to truly capture the essence of middle school children.

Marcy Park (Jessie Eichinger ’17) was a speller who grappled with always having to win and be perfect. Park realized, with some special help from Jesus, that it is okay to not always win. Chip Tolentino (Brian Haungs ’15), the returning champion who was confident that he would win, learned about dealing with puberty when an untimely erection caused him to misspell a word. 

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Jenna Kahan ’15) was the speech impaired, half-Jewish activist daughter of two men who put too much pressure on her. By the end she realized it is okay to not do everything and let them down. Olive Ostrovsky (Becca Myers ’18) was lonely to the extent that she has made the dictionary her best friend. In one of the most moving moments of the show, Olive sang about her wish for her parents to be more involved in her life. By the end, she found a friend in William Barfée (David Getz ’15) who used what he called his “magic foot” to spell, had medical problems and who ultimately realized that he could rely on his own intelligence rather than his foot.

Wearing brightly colored, mismatched clothing and a cape, Leaf Coneybear (Rodrigo Alforo Garcia-Granados ’18) was a little goofy and extremely energetic. Leaf’s problem was that he thought he was not smart, especially since he made it to the bee by default. By the time he was eliminated, Leaf accepted that he just gets a little bit distracted but that he does have potential.

In an interview with the Justice for this week’s interview column, director Sarah Hines ’15 said that her goal with the show was to have the audience laughing almost the entire time, and she definitely succeeded.

The moderators of the bee, passionate previous Putnam County Spelling Bee champion Rona Lisa Peretti (Gabi Nail ’18) and bored vice principal Douglas Panch (Jason Haberman ’15), were exceedingly entertaining in their delivery of the words to be spelled. Every word brought laughter by either sounding ridiculous, having a comical definition or by being used in an absurd sentence.

Another comedic highlight was the cast’s interaction with the audience. Before the bee began, Perreti called up four additional spellers from the audience. These spellers were not simply tested and eliminated within five minutes. Rather, they were truly incorporated into the show, and some even lasted longer in the bee than some of the cast members.

The audience spellers struggled to follow the lead of the cast members as the cast dragged them around the stage in musical numbers, trying to get them to do the choreography, and during one song “Pandemonium,” herding them into the center of the stage and throwing balls at them.

The choreography of “Pandemonium” had the cast and audience spellers utilizing all areas of the stage. All of the musical numbers displayed vocal talent, particularly the harmonies during the “Goodbye” songs sung when spellers were eliminated.

Mitch Mahoney (Dennis Hermida-Gonzalez ’17) brought attitude to the show as a convict on parole completing his community service by serving as the comfort counselor and giving out juice boxes to eliminated spellers. Despite his back-story, at times Mahoney seemed to be the most sensible person in the room.

In one monologue, he spoke about his desire to tell the children that their problems in the spelling bee will be nothing compared to their problems as adults in the real world. However, it is these children’s problems that the spelling bee brought up and addressed.

The musical hit upon a number of coming of age themes and lessons that we learn in our childhood. The take-away messages included that cheating is bad, one should not let others dictate one’s self worth, not being perfect all of the time is okay and erections can come at unfortunate moments. All of the children were likable, and because the audience sympathized with every child, it was difficult to determine who should win the spelling bee.