This weekend, the Dartmouth theater department brought the Hopkins Center's Bentley Theater to life with its production of the charming and lively musical, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." "Spelling Bee" was directed, choreographed, designed and managed entirely by Dartmouth students.
"Spelling Bee" takes place in a school gymnasium in Putnam County, N.Y., and follows six spellers, two moderators and a "comfort counselor" through the high-stress afternoon. Despite its simple premise, the show is charged with intense emotion.
"The premise is silly, but it's much deeper than that," director and choreographer Chiara Klein '10 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "You really get to know the characters and root for them. Yes, there are high, crazy points, but there are also moving, real moments of truth."
The play achieved a balance between the silly and the sentimental in all elements of the production. The vibrant set featuring yellow-and-blue bleachers with Putnam County athletic banners overhead and a small bandstand nearby conjured an appropriate atmosphere, at once transporting the audience to the gymnasiums of their own high school days and echoing the colorful tone of the production. According to Klein, her goal was to create a realistic high school gymnasium.
"To the people in the bee, the gymnasium is the most beautiful, special place in the world."
The music, provided by an onstage three-piece band, was playful and energetic. According to musical director Robert Tsai '12, the group, consisting of Tsai, Hanover native Coleman Bartels and William Lowry '13, rehearsed for six to seven weeks with the cast members.
"The music is generally upbeat. It's well-written and suited to the script," Tsai said.
This weekend's performance also featured strong performances from the entire cast, their enthusiasm evident as they illuminated the stage.
Particularly noteworthy vocal performances were given by Carol Brown '12 as moderator Rona Lisa Peretti, Jocelyn Duford '11 as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, Max Hunter '13 as Leaf Coneybear, Amber Dewey '12 as Marcy Park and Anna Fagin '13 as Olive Ostrovsky. Danny Freeman '13, who played William Barfee, was especially hilarious during the songs "Life is Pandemonium" and "I Speak Six Languages."
Despite the whimsical titles of the songs, the heartfelt lyrics touchingly conveyed the emotions of the characters. Each cast member depicted the characters' personal successes and failures with skill.
Although the individual talents of each cast member were evident, the most impressive aspect of this weekend's performance was the cast's group dynamic.
"Ninety percent of people are on stage at the same time," Fagin said. "There's not one star. It's an ensemble show."
The ability of the cast to feed off each others' energy was all the more impressive given that the show incorporates audience participation by selecting four audience members to participate as additional spellers in the bee, demanding flexibility and the ability to think quickly from the regular cast.
Klein credited the show's success to the strong relationships between the students involved in the production and the faculty in the Dartmouth theater department. Each of the 10 students on the production team was assigned a faculty mentor to help resolve any issues that arose as the show unfolded.
"I can text my faculty mentor at midnight," Klein said. "The theater faculty care about you as both a theater student and a person."
Klein, who directed "Little Shop of Horrors" last Winter and has acted in several other theater department productions, including "The Rocky Horror Show" in Fall 2009 and "Hair" in Fall 2007, said she was inspired to direct "Spelling Bee" when she saw it on Broadway in 2005.
"I thought it was one of the smartest shows I've seen in a long time," Klein said.
During the Winter and Summer of her sophomore year, Klein earned a Presidential Scholarship to work with music professor Steven Swayne on his research on one of Klein's favorite composers, William Finn, who scored "Spelling Bee". She was able to meet Finn in Natick, Mass., during her course of study an experience which further convinced her to direct the show one day, she said.
"He writes from the heart, and he always writes really good things. Spelling Bee' just felt like the right one to do at Dartmouth," Klein said, later describing "Spelling Bee" as her directorial "dream show."
The audience's enthusiastic appreciation of the show was evident when Klein and the cast members received a rousing standing ovation after Friday's performance.
"When I leave Dartmouth, I'll probably never get to work in an environment this nice for a long time," Klein said. "It's a really special and amazing experience to learn and do what you love at the same time."
