Preview: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

By Joe Waller, 2010-05-24

After seeing snippets of the Seoul Players musical “The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at the World Belly Dance Day event at Club TA in Hongdae (a fantastic event in its own right), I have been looking forward to seeing the whole thing.  The Seoul Players kindly allowed me into one of their rehearsals.

The musical,  directed by Margret Whittum, is a highly entertaining story of a group of oddly endearing and diverse characters who compete for the top prize in a spelling bee.  The musical received 2 Tony awards.

My normal expectation of a musical put on by a club or enthusiasts group would be to find awkward characters with woodenness when they are not central to the scene.  Small characters make big performances.  Don’t expect to see any small performances on stage for Putnam County. Each character has been meticulously developed. I could not find any wooden expressions and for that I have to tip my hat to the director and cast for the special attention they paid to the details.   

You are going to find some great characters brought to life by superb performances. My favorite character, Leaf Coneybear (played to perfection by Lance Noe) is a wickedly shameless boy I rooted for from the beginning. This probably indicates some sort of mental illness on my part.

Make time to see Putnam County. The show runs from May 29^th through June 13^th, (8 performances) Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 5pm at Roofers Rooftop Bar and Restaurant http://www.roofers.co.kr .  Tickets are on sale now and are 10,000 won each. Tickets can be reserved by contacting Seoul Players at seoulspellingbee@gmail.com.

For more information about Seoul Players check out: http://seoulplayers.com/ .

Cast:   

Rona Lisa Peretti - Jessica Coyle

Vice Principal Panch - Kevin Brenneman

Marge Mahoney - Blake Bolan

Marcy Park - Amy Mihyang

Chip Tolentino - Mike McDonald

Leaf Coneybear - Lance Noe

Olive Ostrovsky - Jessica Lofbomm

Logianne Schwarzandgrubineirre - Amber Green

William Barfee - Lyle Arnason

 

Orchestra:

Pianist - Jenny Jang ( a classically trained pianist, she also plays for The Willman Band)

Clarinet/Sax - Jennifer Cadieux (played with bands and orchestras in the states, new to Korea, teacher)

Flute/Oboe - Angela Rocca (played with bands and orchestras in the states, new to Korea, teacher)

Synthesizer - Daniel Hawkins (here on a semester abroad at Yonsei Uni., studies music and physics in college)

Percussion - Daami Cagney (from Australia, has worked with several bands in Korea, plays many instruments)

 

Crew:

Director - Margaret Whittum

Musical Director - Daami Cagney

Producer - Lyle Arnason

Stage Manager - Meaghan Harding

Asst. Stage Manager - Emma Valentine

Props Master - Whitney Thompson

Costume Designer - Eun Hye Lee

Choreographer - Grace Szarko

House Manager - Rose Duncan

Graphic Design - Jennifer Vey

Technical Director - Ben Olthafer

Lighting Designer - Colin Dieck

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