Cast members of the Putnam County Spelling Bee rehearse Wednesday afternoon in Albert Taylor Hall. Alissa Miller/ The Bulletin
The Broadway musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is coming to Emporia State’s Albert Taylor Hall Oct. 21-24. The musical is the university’s 38th Homecoming Scholarship Musical. Proceeds from the production will provide scholarships for ESU theatre students. Two Tony awards were given to the Broadway show in 2005 including best book of a musical.
“It’s such a charming tale that has the drama of a spelling bee, involves a great deal of audience participation, and shows the innocence of children,” said Jim Ryan, director of the production and professor of communications and theatre. “The spelling bee serves more of a backdrop as the audience really gets to know the life stories of the participants in a funny, but insightful look at human nature… It’s filled with moments of self-relevation.”
Senior English and theatre major Tommy Govert said the show is different than anything he has done before. His character is William Barfee, one of the contestants in the middle school spelling bee.
“To me, the biggest challenge was being 22 and trying to play a character that is only 13,” Govert said. “It was difficult to remember what it was like to be at that age, and then play that part on stage.”
Ryan has worked in the business for well over 30 years. Out of all the shows he has done, he says that this one is by far his smallest cast. The cast is made up of nine students that auditioned two nights back in August. Ryan said that the total crew of 27 members put what he estimated to be about 160 hours of work into the show.
“It really is amazing the amount of hours some of these people put in,” Ryan said. “We are fortunate to have a great, hard-working crew from everybody from the choreographers to our designers and all the way down the list.”
The crew got their first taste of a live audience on Wednesday with an estimated 250 to 300 high school students attending an afternoon showing. Junior theatre major Mike Koetkemeyer, who plays vice principal Douglas Panch in the play, was relieved to finally perform for a live audience.
“It’s a show that relies heavily on audience participation, so it really boosted the energy up and helped the timing to perform it for the first time,” Koetkemeyer said. “They were fantastic, and I can’t wait to see how the audience responds this weekend. Overall, I think it went very well for the first run through.”
Ryan says that the music in this production might be very different than what students are use to when they go to a musical. The play uses a modern day, contemporary style of music for the show.
Times for the show are set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21-23, with a matinee at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 24. Tickets are $8 per person and can be purchased at the box office. If interested in reserving tickets, call the box office at 620-341-6378.
Chris Hopkins