KIM COOL – Venice Gondolier – Our Town Editor Emeritus
VENICE — Spell “lugubrious.”
At school spelling bees that lead to the national bee in Washington, D.C., that would be one of the simple words.
Test your knowledge against the Putnam students Tuesday through Sunday in the Pinkerton Theatre at Venice Theatre now through Aug. 3.
From the minute you arrive at the entrance to the Pinkerton stage, you will find yourself entering the Putnam County School and its auditorium where the finals of the spelling bee are being held.
VT set designer Tim Wisgerhof has transformed the 90-seat black box theatre into the school, with the main focus the auditorium site of the spelling bee that will send the winner to the national contest. Even the floor has been painted to resemble the wood floors of many older schools.
The cast includes the six finalists: Chip Tolentino (Silas Thormo); Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Summer del Valle); Leaf Coneybear (Matthew Crawford); William Barfee (Dylan Ramon); Marcy Park (Emily Kelly); Olive Ostrovsky (Delaney Lockwood); Rona Lisa Perretti (Hannah Rose Randi); Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Fiona Villalba); Mitch Mahoney (Tan Selby) and standby Juliette Maglio.
Coneybear is delightfully zany in his costume that features a cape that might have been a curtain.
Olive Ostrovsky wears a pink jumpsuit as she portrays one of the bigger parts in this story taking place at the school where the school mascot is a piranha which is on the logo. The piranha will actually appear during the spelling bee in what may be the most unusual costume in this wonderful show. Some of words on school posters and such are misspelled — on purpose.
The action takes place in the school auditorium where the six finalists, including a repeating finalist, have obviously done their homework by nearly memorizing entire dictionaries.
Four members of the studio audience will also find themselves as finalists for a “little while.” None will last long enough to go to Washington or even as far as Nokomis but the night I was there, each added some extra fun to the performance.
The student actors have years of experience and many Venice Theatre classroom hours behind them to have qualified for a summer stock show at this theater.
There is more than acting talent in these cast members. Emily Kelly plays Marcy Park who speaks six languages. It turns out she can twirl a baton and is quite an acrobat — another one of the amazing talents in this show.
While there is plenty of humor in the story, Matthew Crawford as homeschool student Leaf Coneybear is constantly up to FUN. But then Boy Scout Chip Tolentino, played by Silas Thormo, may provide the most outrageous humor in the show, and least expected by a Boy Scout.
Past spelling bee winner William Barfee, played by Dylan Ramon, has a good chance to win again, given his spelling method of drawing the letters on the floor with his foot — at least until the floor has a sticky spot. He is a delight for the audience and also as it turns out, for a fellow speller. Among his winning words was “lugubrious.”
Summer del Valle plays Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere. No wonder she was a finalist. Learning to spell her own last name was good practice for Schwartzandgrubenniere.
Delaney Lockwood, was another delight, portraying Olive Ostrovsky in pink overalls. She sings, she dances, she cartwheels and she spells quite well.
There are three adult roles in the show: Fiona Villalba as the vice principal who provides the words that need to be spelled; Tan Selby as Mitch Mahoney and Hannah Rose Randi as Rosa Lee Perretti.
Director Brad Wages has directed the summer stock program for years during which students have performed in many a major Broadway-type show, generally in July. In December watch for him to once again appear as Scrooge in the theater’s outstanding production of “A Christmas Carol” which was created in house from the original story but edited to make for a better show and then enhanced with its own special music. It will be performed in the Raymond Center in December.
Photos by Renee McVety Photography