The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance presented “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” in April in Marquette Theater to a packed house.
The heartfelt, Tony-Award-winning musical comedy follows an eclectic group of sixth-grade students vying for a spelling bee championship. Rachel Sheinkin wrote the book of the musical, with music and lyrics by William Finn. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” debuted on Broadway in 2005.
The musical came to life under the direction of Helen Jaksch, a professor of practice in Theatre Arts, and with music direction by Melissa Marshall, a musical theater voice instructor. Loyola senior Anna Dupré served as assistant director, and Loyola alum Maggie Jaunet was in charge of the choreography, showcasing the dedication of the entire team.
The musical ran 1 hour and 40 minutes, with no intermission. The cast was small – just 12 characters – so Jaksch double-cast the production, with the two casts alternating shows during the eight-day run, she said.
Jaksch said the musical required the actors to be strong characters and bring big emotions, such as love and longing – not the easiest to navigate during childhood – to their roles.
In a fun twist, the cast asked a few audience members to participate in the production during the pre-show, and they took part in the Spelling Bee production at each show, Jaksch said.
“We welcomed people to the show to see who’s down to clown,” she said, noting that the production featured lots of local references. “Spoiler alert: They couldn’t actually win. That’s kind of baked into the script.”
In years past, Loyola has hired professional artists to lead the design for its productions, but this year it chose graduating seniors Hilary Nguyen and Kaelyn Bailey to handle the lighting and sound, respectively.
