Adelaide Fringe. Adelaide Youth Theatre (AYT). Star Theatre One. 28 Feb 2014
I should start by immediately declaring my interests in this show. I was a part of the cast in Matt Byrne Media’s SA premiere of ‘Spelling Bee’ in 2009, and it is one of my all-time favourites! To say I approached AYT’s version with both excitement and trepidation would be an understatement. This production, directed by Brendan Cooney, was fantastic!
AYT are a company that traditionally produce shows with kids, all under 18. Although ‘Spelling Bee’ is a show about kids, the subject matter and themes are not really the domain of child actors; consequently AYT have, for the first time, increased their age limit to 25 and captured a cast of young adults. They have also taken their first step into the less forgiving domain of adult theatre.
‘Spelling Bee’ takes a hilarious look at the American phenomenon of kid’s spelling competitions. Whilst the show does have a comedic structure (double-entendres and puns are rife!) the genius of the writing is in the wonderfully captured, quirky yet sensitive characters. We laugh because we love them, and in most cases the cast of this production have understood this and played to the strength of the writing. The comedy is automatic thereafter.
The standouts are Buddy Dawson, as Leaf Coneybear, Jamie Hornsby as William Barfée and Tahlia Fantone as Olive Ostrovsky. The rest of the cast includes Mark Stefanoff as Chip Tolentino, Georgia Broomhall as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere, Georgia Bolton as Marcy Park, Mel George as Rona Lisa Perretti, Tom Bubner as Vice Principal Panch and Seb Cooper as Mitch Mahoney.
Dawson’s characterisation is outstanding. Initially it came nervously close to being too much, but quickly settled. He executed great character skill transforming from Coneybear to Schwartz in an instant and his voice and energy was fantastic – an audience favourite.
Hornsby was perfectly cast as Barfée and had a wonderful grasp on his character arc. His Barfée was the perfect balance between disgustingly odd and sweetly endearing.
Fantone was the most captivating of all the characters and captured Ostrovsky’s loneliness and sadness wonderfully. Her beautiful, sweet voice soared in the ‘I Love You Song’, and she was note perfect throughout the show.
Stefanoff’s, Chip Telentino was beautifully sung. The characterisation was cute, but needed to be pulled back a little. Broomhall was a wonderful Schwartzandgrubenniere and kept a consistent lisp throughout; she also played her character arc very well. Bolton as Marcy Park was so grumpy, so often and so well one soon began to think she looked that miserable all the time! Her smile came shining through late in the show however, and it was evident that she understood her character well. Mel George had all the right moves as Rona Lisa Perretti and certainly looked the part, unfortunately some of the songs were out of her range though, and she was undone by the tricky vocal line of the ‘I Love You Song’, which is usually one of the highlights of the musical.
Tom Bubner was hilarious as Panch; he was witty and dry, and his tall, lanky frame and retro suit were perfect for the role. Cooper also looked perfect as his character Mitch Mahoney and had a great voice for the ‘Prayer of the Comfort Counselor’, the difficult scoring of the ‘I Love You Song’ was also too much, but Cooper showed great restraint despite this.
Lighting Design by Rodney Bates was perfect and helped to delineate the fantasy scenes and asides clearly. Choreography by Ali Walsh was simple, effective and communicated the story line and Musical Direction by Ben Stefanoff had the whole show humming along at the perfect pace.
The decision not to put an interval in the show could have been capatalised on had it been advertised, I certainly would have grabbed more than one drink to enjoy at the fantastic cabaret seating set up around the theatre.
This show always seems to cop low audience numbers, and Im never sure if it is a publicity issue, or if audiences just miss the fact that it is a musical comedy and not an actual “spelling bee”! If you haven’t planned to see it, I do highly recommend you check it out. The show only has two runs left, so get in quick!
Paul Rodda
When: 28 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: Start Theatres
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
