Oh, the adolescent terrors of a spelling competition are nothing compared with the terrors of simply existing as an adolescent. That’s a message of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a chipper musical prone to moments of darkness as it follows six young students, played by adults, through the rigors of a public display of their ABC’s. Celebration Theatre Company is staging the .
Celebration Theatre Company continues its fifth season with Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn s Tony Award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, running from April 30 - May 9, 2021 at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts Alexis and Jim Pugh Theatre. Audiences will buzz along with six highly (and some not-so-highly) intelligent children and their personal relationships with life, love, family, and their passion for spelling.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee features an eclectic group of six mid-pubescents going head-to-head in the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming ding of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves! At least the losers get a juice box.
Why, goodness gracious, great balls of fire, that’s a humdinger of a show at Osceola Arts. There’s a whole lot of shakin’ goin’ on, as the song says at the Kissimmee playhouse with a spirited production of “Million Dollar Quartet.”