If life is like a long school year, then
Spelling Bee
explains why we remain in a state of arrested development. With
six characters (apart from the four drawn from the audience)
representing a rainbow of iconic archetypes, from the fat
know-it-all to the needy nerdy genius, and including the
over-achiever and the eccentric artist as well as the
goody-goody and the budding libertarian,
Spelling Bee takes
us into the minds of six dutiful children – and reveals that
it’s parental approval we continually seek. There’s a strain of
A Chorus Line
running through Spelling Bee,
with its characters singing about their fears of failure and
their self-doubts, and at least one character, Leaf Coneybear,
seems destined for a life in theatre, or fashion, or at the very
least, an apartment in New York, where he’ll be surrounded by
equally driven over-achievers.
Spelling
Bee
works so well because it shows us the adult in the child – the
freak we’re afraid of becoming but cannot suppress. No one’s
normal in Spelling Bee,
no more than there’s normalcy in life – and the show succeeds in
revealing the inner oddball and how it’s our oddities which make
us individual, and ultimately, lovable. And there’s no question
that all six primary characters would make fascinating dinner
companions – and almost any parent proud. As would all six
performances, played with such nuance and sensitivity that the
adult coexists happily with the child, providing fascinating
clues as to how we end up where we are.
With sure-handed direction by
veteran James Lapine, and lovely music by William Finn,
Spelling Bee also
benefits at every performance from the willingness of four
audience members to involve themselves in the spelling bee with
a fervor that’s contagious to the rest of the audience.
Invariably you find yourself rooting for one contestant – only
to find yourself swayed by the gumption, or the need, or the
desperation of another. So real is their desire that you worry
for their disappointment – and yet that’s another one of
Spelling Bee’s many
coups: the manner in which it shows its audiences the myriad
ways of winning.
Best always,
Mark and Robert
