A ragtag team of pint-sized spellers make musical theater magic at Burbank’s Grove Theatre Center as Domino One productions debuts its imaginatively directed and choreographed, delightfully performed intimate staging of the 2005 Broadway hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

The William Finn/Rachel Sheinkin Tony winner (conceived by Rebecca Feldman) imagines a group of Elementary/Middle Schoolers for whom winning is everything, then has a cast of adult performers embrace their inner child by bringing them to irresistible life.

 There’s last year’s winner, boy scout Chip Tolentino (Sam Bixby), plagued by a pesky penile problem that swells up at the most inopportune times.

William Barfée-with-an-accent-aigu (David Gallic) provides Chip with his toughest competition thanks to a secret weapon whose virtues he extols in “Magic Foot.”

Not about to be beaten is Marcy Park (Charlene Kim), ninth in last year’s nationals and the epitome of the 2nd-Generation-American Over-Achiever, her many extracurriculars allowing the sprite a mere three hours of sleep a night.

Posing every bit as much a threat to the trio of front-runners are Olive Ostrovsky (Amanda Charney), hoping in vain to impress her couldn’t-care-less father and her new-agey off-on-a-pilgrimage-in-India mother, and Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Christine Martini), who might welcome some disinterest from her overly demanding gay dads Dan Schwartz and Carl Grubenierre.

Leaf Coneybear (Jacob Krech) shouldn’t even be there having come in only second runner-up in his district, but when the winner and the first runner-up proved unavailable to attend the finals, who should get to take their place but child-of-hippies Leaf.

 The remaining finalists are chosen among audience members by 3rd Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee winner Rona Lisa Peretti (Lisa Dyson) and Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Michael John Shaughnessy), returning to The Bee following a five-year hiatus caused by the teensy-weensiest of nervous breakdowns.

Finally, there’s “comfort counselor” Mitch Mahoney (Jason Mulero) doing community service by handing out juice boxes and hugs to the losers.

As one by one, spellers are eliminated by the ding of Vice Principal Panch’s bell, unexpected life lessons get learned with a little romance thrown in to bring a sentimental tear or two amidst the laughter.

Few if any contemporary musicals offer young character actors the star turns afforded them by Spelling Bee, and one of the great pleasures of returning for Bee after Bee after Bee is seeing new performers add their own stamps to these already iconic roles.

Tops among those at the Grove is Gallic’s Barfee, a humongous walking tornado whose “magic foot” not only takes on a life all its own but whose heart takes unexpected flight when Charney’s heartbreakingly vulnerable Olive begins to pierce his armor.

The duo’s funny-touching dream ballet is just one of Katy Marcella’s delicious choreographic touches; another is the A Chorus Line-ready grand finale of a show-stopping “Magic Foot,” and Marcella’s “Pandemonium” more than lives up to its name.

Another cast standout is Martini’s Logainne, a girl under so much nonstop pressure from her two gay dads (Krech and Mulero doing ab-fab double duty) that she’s gone bug-eyed bonkers while still maintaining a child’s pure heart.

Krech gives Leaf a bundle of irresistible quirks, and just wait till he starts spelling as if possessed by forces somewhere up in outer space.

Bixby’s cocky, charismatic Chip is another winner, and never more so than when an “unfortunate protuberance” gives the spunky boy scout his spotlight moment, and just wait till you see who Bixby shows up as in Act Two.

Kim reveals glimpses of repressed longing beneath Marcie’s blank stare and monotone, so much so that when we finally see her smile, it’s a dazzler (and so is her “I Speak Six Languages”).

Dyson gives us one of the cutest Rona Lisas ever, Mulero’s Mitch is barrio-tough and mush-hearted tender, and both harmonize quite gorgeously with Charney’s Olive as fantasy versions of her absent parents. Shaughnessy is amusing as Paunch, but more weirdness and some snappy ad-libs tailored to each guest speller’s idiosyncrasies would make the part a scene-stealer.

The mini–trampoline that reveals Leaf’s OCD to amusing effect is one of producer-director Taylor Wesselman’s inspired touches. The climbing rocks mounted dangerously close to Leaf’s bleacher seat on Wesselman’s terrifically rendered mini-gymnasium set are another, and so are Leaf’s teeny-tiny finger puppets and Olive’s “man-made” toilet seat.

As for costumes,  Wesselman’s designs are just different enough from the Broadway originals to make them seem fresh and new.

Musical director Andrew Orbison on piano and Austin Farmer on drums are the Bee’s top-notch behind-stage band, Hannah Dubrow’s lighting adds impact, and Cecilia Wesselman and stage manager Hayley McClintock score points of their own for a multitude of clever props.

Ellie Oliver plays Olive April 13-15.

Few Broadway musicals lend themselves to repeat visits like The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, thanks to songs that never get old and characters that allow performer after performer to make them their own. This was my 15th Bee (and counting) and one of the best I’ve seen. Check it out at Grove Theatre Center and I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be your last.

GTC Burbank, 1111-b West Olive Avenue, Burbank.
www.dominooneproductions.com

–Steven Stanley
April 5, 2018
Photos: Lauren Meyerling

Tags: Domino One Productions, Grove Theatre Center, Los Angeles Theater Review, Rachel Sheinkin, William Finn