Review: 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' offers antic fun at Artistry

William Morris Barfee has no social skills whatsoever.

Supersensitive with a peanut allergy, he's a bully who yells at everyone. But he's got a magic foot that helps to take away his social anxiety and so seem less obnoxious. When he begins to tap out the letters of obscure words in "The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee," the stars align, even if his novel mnemonic device proves to be a stylish crutch.

Beautifully choreographed by Stephanie Anne Bertumen and performed with antic panache by Brendan Nelson Finn, Barfee is but one of the memorable characters in Tyler Michaels King's brisk and entertaining production at Bloomington's Artistry.

The delightful acting ensemble also includes Tom Reed as Leaf Coneybear, the insecure nerd who makes his own clothes, and Gabrielle Dominique as Loggaine Schwartzandgrubenierre, who battles on despite a lisp.

Reed finds a strange head voice for Coneybear, a character who likes to play with hand puppets and who gets lost in his own thoughts. Surprised to hear his name called by spelling bee officials, he speaks like someone whose vocal cords have passed through a party noisemaker.

Dominique is sympathetic in her turn as Schwartzandgrubenierre, whose long, difficult-to-pronounce name is just one of her battles.

All of the characters in William Finn's musical have complicated inner lives that contrast with the bee, in which answers are simply right or wrong. Boy Scout Chip Tolentino (Wesley Mouri), who was last year's champion, is having a hard time with puberty. You feel for him as he covers his groin to sing "My Unfortunate Erection."

"Spelling Bee" exists in a realm populated by dweebs and geeks (Sarah Bahr created the gymnasium-evoking set while Samantha Fromm Haddow designed the characters' ill-fitting costumes, hair and makeup). Music director Ray Berg keeps things moving at a comically lively clip.

The show is a tricky one because if it's not executed well, it's painful, and we're stuck with a bunch of misfits onstage for whom we have little sympathy. Fortunately, Michaels King's production gets us under the words so we see the connections between the young people's spelling tests and the struggles they face.

For Olive Ostrovsky (Jillian Sjoquist), whose mother is at an ashram in India and who counts the dictionary as her best friend, the word "chimerical" nods to the mental tricks she uses to cope with absence and pain. And when Sjoquist sings "The I Love You Song," we can feel her heartfelt longing for fanciful dreams.

The "Spelling Bee" ensemble also includes Tod Petersen, who delivers a wittily deadpan performance as Vice Principal Douglas Panch. Altogether, the team at Artistry makes this musical comedy into a sweet romp.

'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'
By: Composer and lyricist William Finn and bookwriter Rachel Sheinkin. Directed by Tyler Michaels King.
Where: Artistry, Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Oct. 29.
Tickets: $26-$56. 952-563-8575 or artistrymn.org.
Protocol: Masks optional except for a mask-required performance Oct. 22.