HS Musical: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

This year’s highly praised high school musical took place on November 5 and 6. The show performed was the award-winning Tony Broadway musical, “The 29th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” The musical follows the story of several spellers, some of which were teachers at AISG, participating in a fictional spelling bee run by three strange adults.

Several students and teachers showed up to both the Thursday and Friday evening shows, which were both a success and featured many delightful characters. An audience favorite was the character “William Morris Barfée” played by Isaac N. who always succeeded in creating laughter among the audience members. Students also immensely enjoyed teacher appearances, which included the following faculty staff: Ms. Dean, Mr. Schwagler, Mr. Baier, Ms. Zlacket, and even Mr. Timmerman!

Maya T. participated in last year’s musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and played Rona Lisa Peretti in this year’s musical. Maya commented, “I actually felt really good about it [the musical]; I feel like everyone was prepared for their own solos and their harmonies. I felt like it went really smoothly.” Maya’s words ring true as many agree that the production quality of the musical was fantastic and ran professionally. The cast was also very diverse with students in grades ranging from middle schoolers to seniors. Jenny L., who played Olive Ostrovsky in the musical, commented, “We had middle schoolers this year and, honestly, they’re talented. It’s really nice because it brings a lot of benefits to the fine arts department; they might join again next year.” With the continued participation of these talented actors, the legacy and quality of AISG musicals can remain superlative.

Mr. Boyd, one of the musical’s directors, commented on his opinions of this year’s performance. “I think we had some of the best singing harmonies that we’ve had in a while.” When asked about the addition of middle schoolers he also said that “It worked out great, we were very surprised; the kids that showed up were two middle schoolers who were in big parts.” Mr. Boyd further mentioned that he felt the casting of this year’s musical was perfect and that he really enjoyed this year’s musical.

The songs in the musical were all enjoyable and entertaining, the pit band’s performance also seamlessly fit together with the actors’ talented vocals, even the lights in the show were also masterfully utilized with a specific set of colors for each scene.

This year’s musical was generally all-around amazing and I personally can’t wait for the next one.