Spelling bee

On Holy Saturday I went to see the MIT Musical Theatre Guild's production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

The set was very simple, consisting of a table stage left, and a set of bleachers (tiered benches, for my non-American audience) stage right, flanking a microphone on its stand. A rather appropriate set for a spelling bee, though not one several designers I know would be happy with!

From my first impression on walking in, I shall jump immediately to my overall impression: it was an absolutely wonderful show. Six cast members were MIT students, and they were portraying students approximately 10 years younger, and it worked effectively. Obviously they didn't actually look like primary school children, but they gave off a very youthful impression.

Betsy Flowers '12 as Olive was the strongest of the performers in the early stages of the show. I know her quite well, and she did indeed look many years younger in pigtails and pink makeup. Her speaking voice managed to sound utterly juvenile without hitting irritating (an impressive achievement, in my view), and her way of happily bobbing away, oblivious to what was going on, was spot on.

I was amused when she called to the audience "Sir, can you please move across one seat: I'm saving that one for my Dad" [who was obviously not going to show up], and a spotlight illuminate me. Betsy's character has spurned mine in the last two shows we've done together, and it was amusing that even when I'm not in a show, she manages to boss me around.

The other actors grew into their strongly defined characters. Their idiosyncrasies were somewhat strictly defined by the text (if not, the director and actors must have put together an extremely solid show concept), but it worked well. If people habitually sprang into song during a spelling bee - and the restrictions social conventions place on normal behaviour were far weaker - I might have walked into a real event.

The music was a huge step up from what I am used to at MTG shows. Soloists were confident and easy to hear. The choral music was simple but well done. Krista Sergi as Rona Lisa was the strongest of the singers. The singing of Christopher Puchi '14 as William brought an interesting point to mind. The actors were using distinct, childish speaking voices for their characters, and when singing they had to either keep that voice or revert to something more natural. They seemed to do ok making their choice not stick out - only a couple of times did I notice either a strangely sung song or an incongruous shift of voice. I did at that point feel that Christopher's talents had been wasted, his excellent singing voice being disproportionate to the amount of focus he had had to that point. His character received more attention later. Perhaps I'd pick Betsy as the third of the singers, though I may just be biased.

There was a bit of dancing; it was not notable in itself, but now I think back on it I guess it helped establish the rhythm of the play. The gross blocking was, much of the time, deliberately simple. This worked well in allowing attention to be drawn to the actors' individual subtleties and making the more adventurous scenes stick out.

Overall, I would say that it was not only good, but indescribably good. Often I feel I'm able to convey how much I enjoyed something, but here I feel I can do so only by direct assertion. As I told Patrick: if you're only going to see one MTG show during your time at MIT, make it this one!