STAGE WEST: "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at Lamb's Players Theatre

Caitie Grady (in foreground) in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."  Photo by Ken Jacques

            The word is “capybara.”
            If you know that refers to a web-footed amphibious rodent common to South America then you’ve probably seen “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
            Capybara is one of the mostly obscure words contestants are asked to spell in this longtime popular musical comedy by William Finn (music and lyrics) and Rachel Sheinkin (book). It’s set at a spelling bee taking place at fictional Putnam Valley Middle School. The emcee, Rona Lisa Peretti, is a former bee champ herself. The six youthful competitors come with their own comic idiosyncrasies and, in the case of a couple of them, weightier back stories.
            I first saw “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” nine years ago when it was produced by the bygone Intrepid Shakespeare Co. in San Marcos. Its cast included Nancy Snow Carr as Rona, spouse Geno Carr as Vice Principal Douglas Panch, who quizzes the bee contestants, and among those the hysterically funny Omri Schein playing geeky William Barfee (“It’s pronounced BAR-FAY!”).
            Well now Schein’s back and Lamb’s has got him.
            Once again stealing the show as William Barfee, Schein heads the cast of Lamb’s Players Theatre’s new production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” directed by Robert Smyth with Colleen Kollar Smith as choreographer and assistant director, and musical direction by G. Scott Lacy.
            Nancy Snow Carr and Geno Carr returned as Rona and Vice Principal Panch, but for now their roles are being ably filled by understudies Eileen Bowman and Brian Mackey. The contestants include the always stellar Megan Carmitchel and Lamb’s company member Caitie Grady.
            Ben Read leads a lively little band playing behind the action. Thanks, Lamb’s, for employing live music in an onstage musical.
            This is an inarguably fun show with lots of laughs. You’ve got to respect a script with lyrics that rhyme “Nietzsche” with “Christina Ricci.” I’d forgotten from the last time around seeing “Spelling Bee” that there are a few lines that stretch the bounds of PG-13 – somewhat of a happy surprise at Lamb’s – and an entire song about an erection, an untimely mishap incurred by contestant Chip Tolentino (Ernest Sauceda).
            The show’s songs in general – the erection tune aside – aren’t that memorable, but they’re performed with zest, and Kollar Smith’s choreography enlivens what might otherwise be an affair in which everyone’s sitting down much of the time.
            “Spelling Bee” prescribes that four guest contestants be brought onto the stage from the audience. I’ve seen such a gambit in many shows before and it often produces Amateur Hour to the most shuddering extent. But at Lamb’s the night I was there it worked beautifully. One young woman from the crowd more than held her own among the pro’s onstage.
            Speaking of pro’s, Bowman is a proven comic performer. So is Mackey, whose part is rather thankless by comparison, but he gets his moments.
            Nobody can outshine Schein, but Carmitchel proves a whiz with a childlike lisp, Sauceda and Ben van Diepen deliver physical comedy nuggets as Tolentino and contestant Leaf Coneybear respectively. Grady’s Olive Ostrovsky is the straight role among the contestants but this allows her to again showcase at Lamb’s her lovely singing voice. Coronado School of the Arts student Isabella Pruter, as prodigious Marcy Park, is a promising young talent who will have even bigger things ahead of her.
            Bryan Barbarin as Official Comfort Counselor (and ex-con) Mitch Mahoney also gets to do a cameo as Jesus Christ. God bless him.
            The word is “regalement.” It’s not in the show, but it means fun and it well describes “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
            “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” runs through Aug. 18 at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado.