The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee → Funk Soul Productions
I was very excited to return to a Funk Soul Production to kick off my 2026 season of community theatre. Last year’s production of ‘The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals’ was a personal standout, and after last night, I continue to remain utterly impressed at what a theatre company with an average age of 22 years old can accomplish!
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee follows a group of zany middle school students competing in a local championship spelling bee. However, the audience is quick to learn that this competition is about more than just spelling, as the contestants reveal their personal insecurities, inner quirks and suppressed dreams. As the students continue to fire back correct answers to (suspiciously made up) words, the pressure mounts too high for some, revealing the vulnerability and resilience of pre-adolescence.
Making an impressive directional debut, Gracie Greenrod has assembled a tight-knit cast and crew to bring this show to life. Upon entering the venue, it was clear great care was taken to create a setting that instantly immersed the audience in an American community hall, true to the show’s defining feature of audience participation and frequent breaking of the fourth wall.
Immi Beattie joins Gracie as co-producer and musical director, her leadership evident in the casts’ confident vocal talents and cohesive harmonies in the ensemble numbers.
Six pre-pubescent characters make up the spelling bee contestants, alongside four audience volunteer spellers. Orchestrating the pandemonium is former bee champion Rona Lisa Peretti (Ruby Pinkerton) and Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Flynn Turley). Also at the table, hilariously handing out the consolation Juice Boxes, is the official “comfort counsellor,” Mitch Mahoney (Parisya Mosel).
The show is made to be an ensemble piece, and this cast proved the strength of that design with refined and uniformly excellent performances. It was clear each performer had fully embraced and developed their character’s delightful inner quirks.
In their standout purple suit and colourful hairclips, Neve Sargent as Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre was hilarious to watch– even from the pre-show act they had the audience clapping along to ‘Come on Eileen.’ Sargent captured Logainne’s frantic intellect in act one, to then expertly portraying her child-like fragility and moral questioning in act two as the pressure from her dads mounted.
Also working the crowd was Corey Major as Chip Tolentino, nailing the enthusiasm and awkwardness of this character. No spoilers, but his surprise appearance in act two had us howling with laughter…!
Jaxon Joy’s performance as William Barfee was a hilarious standout. Perhaps the character with the most "quirky" spelling method (his magic foot), he truly leant into William’s social awkwardness and obsessive preparation technique. His song, Magic Foot is an absolute hoot, Allycia Angeles’ playful choreography making excellent use of the space and characters involved.
Amelia Boys as Olive Ostrovsky gets to explore the show’s more tender themes of abandonment, identity and growing up. Throughout the show, Boys remained sweet and vulnerable, and had her chance to shine vocally during The I Love You Song.
Matthew Boyd as Leaf Coneybear delighted the audience with hilarious character work of this character’s heightened quirks, making him instantly loveable.
Yasmin Fitzgerald brings the overachiever energy to Marcy Park. She’s confident, yet cleverly hints early on that there are walls up. Fitzgerald then serves up an impressive display of her extra-curricular talents, all whilst singing I Speak Six Languages - a challenging song that she made look easy.
Pinkerton and Turley have the most verbal interaction with the audience spellers, and they were on fire with hilarious bite-backs to the comments thrown by the participants. Their confident, dead-pan delivery earned many audience laughs, a testament to their ability to improvise in front of a crowd.
All in all, Funk Soul’s Production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a triumphant ensemble piece that buzzes with infectious fun. Don’t miss out on the Pandemonium Adelaide!
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