The Cast Photo by David Allen

Maybe few people still have a dictionary anywhere near their desk or on their home's bookshelf. Maybe nearly everyone now relies on Gmail, Microsoft Word, Google search, or AI to correct our misspellings. But for some reason, more than 10 million students still participate each year in Scripps National Spelling Bees in tens of thousand schools across the country, and another near 10 million tune in to watch the finals in Washington D.C. each spring.

Further evidence of the Bees' continued draw is the twenty-plus year popularity on large and small stages across America of the hilariously touching and lesson-rich The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This William Finn (score) and Rachel Sheinkin (book) musical (originally conceived by Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss) uses the framework of a local spelling contest of assorted quirky kids to remind us that winning is wonderful, but it comes in second place to friendship, that being seen as weird can actually be pretty OK, and that being true to oneself in the end brings the biggest reward.

Foothill Music Theatre is welcoming Putnam County's whiz-kid finalists to a spell-off full of F-U-N and H-E-A-R-T. Greeting each is Putnam's ex-champ of the third annual bee and tonight's moderator, Rona Lisa Peretti, with Sarah Bylsma bringing contagious joy and a wonderfully resounding voice as she sings time again of "my favorite moment of the bee." Joining her as judge and jury of the contest is vice principal Douglas Panch, a last-minute substitute because the regular is stuck in a Waymo gone wacko. The rather officious Doug Brook gets many of the night's biggest laughs as he provides seemingly off-the-cuff sentences that illustrate a word to be spelled by a nervous contestant. The third adult among these hormone-crazy kids arrives in leather, boots, and tattoos. Midge Mahoney (Naomi Murray) is an ex-convict fulfilling her community service by handing out apple juice boxes and giving hugs to all losers. While the evening is mostly focused on the spellers themselves, all three adults more than carry their own weight in song, dance, and comedy.

As explained by Rona and Douglas in "The Spelling Rules," the spelling bee plays out before us in familiar bee sequence (word, definition request, used in a sentence, spelling, correct pronouncement, bell dinging if wrong)–a sequence sometimes in an expected pace, sometimes in wildly accelerated or snail-like, slo-mo speeds. Intermixed, kids and bee officials break into song, dance, and side scenes about their lives, family dramas, fears, and dreams. In addition to the six kids, four audience members join as spellers, awarded in their first rounds fairly easy words (e.g., "cow") and given more impossible, obscure challenges later, as they are sent trucking back to their seats while being serenaded by the cast in a repeated, ever-more elaborate "Goodbye" songs.

In a gym setting designed so authentically by Lynn Grant (set) and Laura Merrill (props) that one can almost smell the lingering teenager sweat in the air, the spellers gather on bleachers before us–a group nothing short of bizarre in appearance and demeanor but also (as any parent or teacher of teens knows) "normal" for all their outlandish styles, abrupt clowning, and overall kookiness.

For example, with hair of multiple colors, a cape that looks like it was once on his mother's kitchen table, and clothes that mismatch to the hilt, we meet hippy-raised Leaf Coneybear (Andrew Cope) whose arms and legs seem always in tied-up tangles, who easily gets distracted as he roams the room, and who tells us in song, "I'm Not That Smart" just before going into a frozen trance as in an almost robotic voice he spells the next word correctly.

In full scout uniform overflowing with badges and awards, Ryan Liu arrives sporting Chip Tolentino's cocky confidence as last year's winner and this year's favorite. Chip is on track for another trophy until a certain girl distracts him, leading to a misspelling he blames on "My Unfortunate Erection," sung in rib-tickling fashion to much audience laughter.

Pig-tailed Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (try spelling that!) spells her words silently on her arm before saying the letters confidently out loud. Melissa Momboisse shines as a politically aware crusader who draws applause as she suddenly campaigns with hyped passion for more women leaders in the U.S. As the youngest competitor, her exceptionally long surname is the result of having two gay dads–two overly fussy fathers (Milovan Bogdanic and Andrew Cope) who are looking for whatever way–legal or not–necessary to help their adored daughter win.

In perfectly ironed parochial uniform is the uptight, overly serious Marcy Park, played by Crystal Gallardo, who rattles off her spellings at lightning speed (complete with definitions) and who is proud to demonstrate her many language and sporting accomplishments in a riotously athletic "I Speak Six Languages." After some divine consultation with a spangled and female Jesus (a second winning role by Naomi Murray), Marcy has a personal break-through that can well serve as a lesson for any among us who are obsessively high achievers.

Among this group of rather unusual teens is one who stands out in all categories of weird (including his pink-striped tie against a green-checkered shirt) and is the one that in the end, for all his stuck-up strangeness, earns the group's and our total admiration. William Barfée (better pronounce it "bar-FAY" if you know what's good for you) makes sure everyone knows he expects to win, using his famed "Magic Foot" to spell out words while gliding across the gym floor.

Daniel Rees McDonald sports a trumpeting voice to match William's own inflated ego–an ego that finally adjusts its global size as be slowly befriends the sweet, always-smiling Olive Ostrovsky, glowing in her rainbow colors and overalls bedecked with flowers. Mackenzie Macdonald wins his and our hearts with a voice that is lyrically attracting as she sings of the love she is so wanting and missing from a mother who is on a save-the-world mission in India and a father whose awaiting seat in the bee's audience remains empty. Joined in a dream sequence by Lucy Nino (Mom) and Milovan Bogdanic (Dad), the three sing a heart-rending "The I Love You Song," with Olive's final, plaintive, and gripping cries of "Mama" enough to draw our tears.

The two dozen songs and reprises of the evening sung first with teenage squeaks and squawks and later with rich and full-bodied vocals that this cast of actors all in truth possess are enthusiastically accompanied by a set of rotating musicians (cello, reed, percussion) under the direction of Nicolas Valdez. Milissa Carey directs the non-stop action with an eye to mix hilarity with heart in just the right proportions while Sarah Bylsma adds high kicks and high jinx in the choreography that often erupts into a stage full of kids and adults going wild. Particular kudos to Y. Sharon Peng who must have had many chuckles in her studio as she sketched out the ideas for this array of personality-defining costumes.

While The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee may not make many lists for one of the greats of twenty-first century musicals, there is a lot in the script and music to elicit a fully enjoyable and entertaining evening, especially when placed in the hands of this enthusiastic, energized cast at Foothill Music Theatre.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs through March 15, 2026, at Foothill Music Theatre, Lohman Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills CA. For tickets and information, please visit foothill.edu/theatre/spelling-bee.html.