February 29, 2024
For the past 25 years, Putnam County had been holding a prestigious spelling bee featuring kids who had won (or at least placed) in their respective local competitions. The master of ceremonies this year is Rona Lisa Peretti, who had been a grand champion speller herself. The actual word pronouncer was ill, so Vice Principal Panch pinch-hit. Ex-con on parole Mitch Mahoney was the comfort counsellor, giving juice boxes to kids who get eliminated.
The contestants this year include: the lovestruck defending champ Chip Tolentino, the pig-tailed lisping daughter of a gay couple Loggaine SchwartzAndGrubennierre, the childish kid who thought he was "not-so-smart" Leaf Coneybear, the no-nonsense over-achiever Marcy Park, "Magic Foot" technique speller with peanut allergy William Barfee, and the shy girl often left on her own by her parents and whose best friend was her dictionary Olive Ostrovsky.
In the matinee show I watched, Star Magic talents AC Bonifacio played Marcy, as Angela Ken played Olive. Becca Coates played Loggaine, Luis Marcelo as Chip, Ron Balgos as Barfée, and Elian Dominguez as Leaf. Among the adults, Robbie Guevara played Panch, while Jordan Andrews played Mitch. (Their alternates are: Shanaia Gomez, Krystal Brimner, Justine Narciso, Diego Aranda, Joshy Ramirez, Shaun Ocrisma, Audie Gemora and Nyoy Volante respectively in order.) The only actor without an alternate was Liesl Batucan as Peretti.
Director Missy Maramara made sure the show was filled to the brim with youthful energy and nerdy glee, from the yellow color motif of the stage to the frenetic pacing of the contest. In the show I watched, AC Bonifacio and Angela Ken stood out among the girls, and Ron Balgos and Elian Dominguez among the guys. The performances of Becca Coates and Luis Marcelo were affected by the muffled sound system of the venue so I barely understood their songs.
One of the interactive gimmicks of this show was the calling of four members of the audience to come up the stage to become contestants of the Spelling Bee. During the show I watched, Nicki Gil was one of the guest spellers, but the other three were regular Joes, which can be boring to watch when they took a very long time spelling. One of the guests actually misspelled a word, but this error was not caught by Robbie Guevara, so she stayed on longer.
The original 2005 Broadway show was directed by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin. I had seen this show before, staged by Atlantis at the RCBC Theater back in 2009. In my memory, I remember the show being very funny, so I enjoyed it a lot. However, I did not recall that there were some squirmy moments, like a boy's member getting excited, or that irreverent cameo by a supposedly Jesus character.
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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs from February 24 to March 17, 2024, at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater, Circuit Makati. Tickets can be bought from Ticket2Me (LINK), with prices ranging from P3300 (Premium), P2700 (Regular) and P1900 (with obstructed views).
