COB’s ‘Spelling Bee’ carries heart and humor

Illustration by Sami Seyedhosseini, Cartoonist

“Mama, Mama, Mama!”

Onstage, Olive Ostrovsky, played by junior theatre performance major Leah Jacobson, sang in a piercing voice, lamenting the absence of her parents. Standing side-by-side with imaginary versions of her mother and father, she imagined them telling her “I love you” — but sadly, it was only a fantasy. 

On Nov. 14 and 15, Chapman On Broadway (COB), a fully student-run organization that produces musicals, put on their production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in Irvine Lecture Hall. With lyrics and music by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin, it is based on the play “C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E” by Rebecca Feldman. 

The musical follows six young spelling bee contestants as they compete in the titular contest. After winning or placing in their district spelling bees, they hope to make it to nationals.

Executive producer Richie Amarillas, a senior political science major and president of COB, said many people were upset they couldn’t get a ticket — all three shows were sold out. But he considers this a good problem to have. 

“You never want to see people upset. But when you have dozens of people that can't see it and wanted to see it, that says that you're doing something right,” Amarillas said.  

The musical features a cast of quirky, vibrant characters. Chiefly, the six young spellers. 

William Barfée (played by junior theatre performance major Alec Home) is a stereotypical nerd character who uses his “magic foot” to spell out words on the floor.

Olive Ostrovsky (Jacobson), on the other hand, is a shy, lonely girl with absentee parents (played by freshman theatre performance major Elias Feldman and freshman psychology major Layla Yousuf) who considers her dictionary her best friend. 

Chip Tolentino (played by freshman screen acting major Keller Kennedy) is a cocky, baseball uniform-clad boy who must reckon with the awkwardness of adolescence and his emerging sexuality. 

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (played by sophomore biological sciences major Shira Ehrlich) has two fathers (played by senior computer engineering major Soren Marius and junior electrical engineering major Michael Kenny) and feels crushed by the pressure to succeed. 

Marcy Park (played by freshman screen acting major Katie Ruoo) is a high-achiever who speaks six languages and is a talented athlete and musician — but beneath her perfect exterior, she, too, is crumbling under the pressure to be perfect. 

Leaf Coneybear (played by freshman screen acting major Talon Confer) is an easily distractible boy who is filled with childlike wonder and makes his own clothes — viewed by his family as “dumb,” he wants to prove he is smart.

The bee is hosted by charming past spelling bee winner Rona Lisa Peretti (played by junior theatre performance major Sophia Strand) and eccentric vice principal Douglas Panch (played by sophomore psychology major Cole Flanegan). There to support eliminated contestants is “comfort counselor” Mitch Mahoney (played by freshman screen acting major Logan Whitmore), an ex-convict doing his community service at the bee. 

At one point, Jesus (played by freshman screen acting major Shane Lackman) makes a special appearance. 

Among the lively cast, ordinary Chapman students and community members joined the actors onstage. They were invited to join the spelling bee competition and spell some words of their own. 

Guests were instructed to ask for each word’s definition and its use in a sentence before spelling it, allowing the hosts to make jokes based on the word.

On opening night, the cast was joined by Dean of Students Jerry Price, who went in fairly blind. 

“I think they just wanted me to respond naturally to what was going on and not have any prescribed actions on my part,” said Price. 

The actors interacted with the participants, making them a part of the action in between their dancing, singing and plenty of spelling. 

One by one, spellers were eliminated. Each guest was sent away with a goodbye song. As the last guest speller standing, Dean Price received a special goodbye song, “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor,” led by Mahoney.

At times, the show felt especially relevant. Across the three showings, Logainne’s character made different comments about Prop. 50, the government shutdown and the current presidential administration. According to Salvatore D’Agostino, the show’s director and a junior theatre and French double major, Ehrlich made up these lines. 

“It was completely written by her, and I think it speaks really well to the modern issues that America is facing,” D’Agostino said. “And it gives us sort of a chance to sort of laugh at them a bit.”

The show balanced humor with more serious, intense emotional moments. 

In one humorous instance, Chip gets an erection after seeing Leaf’s sister Marigold in the audience; distracted and embarrassed, he misspells a word and is eliminated. 

Chip’s actor, Kennedy, said he would select a random person in the audience to be “Marigold.” 

“I would usually pick one of my friends ‘cause I didn't want to make a random person uncomfortable,” Kennedy said. 

At the start of Act Two, Chip sings the song “My Unfortunate Erection,” lamenting the incident. After his elimination, he walks the aisles handing out candy. Upset, he throws the candy aggressively at audience members. 

A more serious and emotional moment comes with Olive’s “The I Love You Song.” Asked to spell “chimerical,” meaning “wildly fanciful” and “highly unrealistic,” she enters a dream state, imagining her parents beside her, expressing their love and support. In one particularly moving line, she sings, “I think he takes out on me / What he wants to take out on you,” implying that Olive’s father uses her as an outlet for his anger towards her absent mother (who is in India on a spiritual journey).  

“What was really cool about the blocking in this scene is that they are never allowed to look at me, and I'm never allowed to look at them, because they're not real,” Jacobson said. 

But Olive finds another chance for companionship at the bee in Barfée, who develops a soft spot for her. The two bond, and are left as the last two spellers standing. In the final round, Olive spells a word wrong, giving Barfée his winning chance — a chance he hesitates to take, until Olive encourages him. 

Barfée takes the spelling bee win. But in a way, so does Olive.

“What she's been wanting more than anything else is connection,” Amarillas said. 

Because in the end, the bee is about more than just winning. 

“We have all of our characters in a big group hug at the end, because it symbolizes the growth of all these characters — how they’ve sort of found a family within the bee,” D’Agostino said of the conclusion scene. 

And what could be more of a win than that?

Check out Chapman On Broadway’s production of “Pippin” on March 19 and 20 this coming spring.