Spelling bees have an inherent drama. That was evident in the 2002 documentary "Spellbound."

There’s enough tension for ESPN to broadcast the finals of the National Spelling Bee.
As they stand before the microphone with a word spinning in their head, contestants can’t help but reveal
a bit of their personalities.
"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" now on stage at Owens Community College gives that
drama a comic and musical turn.
The show presents us with a suitably quirky cast of contestants presided over by the chirpy former winner
Rona Lisa Peretti (Alisha Bond).
She struts on stage at the beginning bearing the trophy with an air of possessiveness. She goes to the
microphone and relives her winning moment, and then proclaims, in song, her love of spelling bees, this
one in particular.
One by one we meet the contestants, each played to the cartoonish hilt by the actors.
Nick Gallagher plays Chip, last year’s winner, a cocky jock who teases the girls and bullies the other
boys.
Lograine Schwartzandgrubenierre (Elizabeth Williamson) is the pink tutu-wearing child of a male gay
couple, one of whom, Carl (Ryan Nijakowski), is a stereotype of the overly competitive stage parent – he
even tries to sabotage another contestant’s competitive tick. Dan (Silvester Rodriguez) is easier going.

Leaf Coneybear (Andy Sweney) is an attention deficient sweetheart, mild mannered, and utterly bewildered
by his unexpected place in the championship bee.
William Barfee (John Toth) is last year’s runner up, and a prematurely elderly boy with allergies and
neurosis to spare. He makes up for all these with a boastful regard for his own intelligence. Marcy Park
(Gabi Shook) is a ringer, the overachiever who speaks six languages, who has moved to the district
apparently for an easier path to the nationals.
Olive Ostrosky (Amber Breault-Albain) is the shy daughter of a New Age couple, who neglect her. As she
sings in her signature number, her friend was the big dictionary a home.
There’s not a lot of subtlety in these, but it is clear the cast is having a hoot with the broad, at
times sophomoric, humor.
In addition to Rona, the adults presiding include Mitch Mahoney (Tim Mitchell) who is doing "his
community service as monitor for the bee and the creepy and passive-aggressive Vice Principal Douglas
Panch (Joshua Smith) who is provides often inappropriate humorous sentences for the spelling words.
The play adds elements of spontaneity including three contestants who are not regular members of the
cast. One, Heath Huber, an Owens employee from Bowling Green, actually hung on a good part of the first
act.
Still the musical tried, strained really, to hit more serious notes. That was especially evident in Olive
who struggles with her parents’ neglect. At one point as she considers the word "chimerical,"
she fantasies of her parents telling her how much they love her and are proud of her while she
simultaneously considers how if she were to win there may not be anyone to go with her to Washington as
a chaperone.
That song, "The I Love You Song," is melodically the strongest piece in the song. All the
singers have good voices and do their best to make the generic show melodies memorable. While the songs
seem to be attempting to show us the characters in a different light, often it is hard to connect them
with the peculiarities the actors do so well to bring out.
Still "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," an amusing take on an elementary school
right of passage, gets a winning staging by the Owens troupe.