Brooks Secondary School is bringing award-winning musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, to the stage at Max Cameron Theatre from February 12 to 14.
With music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin, Spelling Bee is an Tony award-winning musical comedy chronicling the quest of a group of adolescent outsiders competing for top honours in a spelling championship.
“It’s a misleading title because you think it’s a spelling bee and don’t realize it’s a musical, then you think it’s something for children but really it’s for a mature audience,” said director Carma Sacree, who gives the play a PG–13 rating.
She notes the play is very character driven and required a lot of talent and acting skill from the senior high school students playing the roles.
“I knew that I could not do the production without incredibly talented kids,” Sacree said. “It is extremely challenging. Musically there are six of them singing and they all have their own parts. I knew I had the kids and I always wanted to do this play. It’s a dream for me.”
Sacree said she would not have suggested the play had she not worked with the actors previously in Powell River Academy of Music productions.
“One of the challenges the kids say is not laughing, and staying in character,” Sacree said. “Even after we cast it, some of the kids are quite similar to their characters in real life.”
In addition to comedy and music the play also has an element of improvisation where members of the audience are brought up to compete in the bee, which adds a freshness to each show.
Sacree is working with Megan Skidmore and Paige Anderson on the production as well as with Nancy Hollmann, Sacree’s high school drama and choral teacher. “I was in her Brooks musicals and here we are working together at Brooks. It’s really quite lovely,” said Sacree.
The show opens on Thursday, February 12, for three shows to Saturday, February 14. The performances start at 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased at Breakwater Books and Coffee, Brooks office and Vancouver Island University (VIU) for $10 each.
A student catered Valentine’s Day dinner is planned for the final show. Tickets for the dinner and show can be purchased at VIU for $30. Doors open at 5 pm on that day with dinner served at 5:30 pm.
