Tony Award Winning Musical Comedy at Beef & Boards

Located on the northwest side of Indianapolis in College Park, the Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre opened in 1973. It has earned the reputation of providing a delicious buffet followed by a premier live stage show. The 38^th season opens with a Tony Award winning musical, The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The inaugural performance of this musical comedy was in 2005 in New York.

Featuring six young people "in the throes of puberty", the play exposes their angst ridden psyches as each struggles to attain the honored title of Spelling Bee Champion. The adult supervision at the event is questionable at best. Vice Principal Panch (Paul Hansen) is back after a five year hiatus, and assistant Rona Lisa Pevetti (Licia Watson) still re-lives her win at the third annual bee. Mitch Mahoney (Daron Lamar Williams) plays the comfort counselor, who happens to be working off his community service sentence.

Each of the contestants exhibits quirks in their spelling techniques. William Barfee (Jayson Elliot) spells with his "magic foot", tracing letters across the stage. Leaf Coneybear (Seth Tucker) goes into a head tilted, deep voiced trance. Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Sarah Hund) 'writes' the letters on her forearm, while Olive Ostrovsky (Tiana Checchia) seems to have a mystic flash back prior to her spelling attempts. Rounding out the group is Marcy Park (Kiyo Takami), uber genius, and Chip Tolentino (Dominic Sheahan-Stahl) whose lack of erectile dysfunction proves his downfall. Each adolescent sings his or her way through the mirth of acceptance, the struggle for maturity, and interpersonal relationships. Lots of humor coupled with action bordering on slapstick makes a very exciting show.

Some of the funniest lines of the play come from the sentences that the judge puts together to give examples of the words in context. One such sentence uses the peculiar word "phylactery", which are Jewish religious texts. Vice Principal Panch generously provides the sentence "Billy, put down that phylactery, we are Episcopalians." Hansen's dead pan delivery of definitions and contextual sentence examples bring guffaws throughout the performance.

In an interesting twist, four audience members become part of the onstage cast during the beginning of the performance. Interspersed between the cast members, each volunteer is given words to spell. Some miss their first word. Of note during the December 30^th performance was a 15 year old sophomore volunteer from Fishers High School. Dustin Meeks correctly spelled several words, and did a remarkable job interacting with the cast members. He was involved with several action scenes, and quickly adapted to a line dance, never missing a step. Dustin told me later that he has a passion for the stage. Watch for this young man. He has a future in theater.

There are 35 performances of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Tickets range from $36 to $59 for all performances and include Chef Odell Ward's specially prepared dinner buffet, fruit and salad bar, coffee and tea. Full service bar and gourmet desserts are also available. For reservations, call the Beef & Boards Box Office at (317) 872-9664. Box office hours are 10 am to 7 pm Tuesday through Sunday, and 10 am to 6 pm Mondays.

Warning: This show is rated PG-13 for some immodest humor, and is not suitable for young children.

Sources:
Personally enjoyed the evening performance on 12/30/2010
Beef & Boards