For weeks now, posters have been displayed throughout Millennium Brooklyn’s hallways touting the highly anticipated upcoming musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Students have been buzzing about the production, the school’s first musical since 2019. Although Millennium had reintroduced yearly plays since COVID paused them, musicals had yet to make a return to Millennium–until now. Ms. McBrien, MBHS’s theater teacher and Spelling Bee’s director, aims to make the long awaited event a spell-tacular performance. With a stable of performers, many of whom honed their chops in last spring’s Clue and fall’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, students and staff eagerly await the song and dance-filled show with high expectations.
Bee-yond the Dictionary
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which debuted on Broadway in 2005, is a comical crowdpleaser. The show depicts your typical spelling bee with witty contestants, funny hosts, and, of course, nail biting moments where contestants attempt to spell difficult words. The Millennium musical will feature swarms of talent at the ready to execute their version of the musical.
Behind the scenes, Ms. McBrien’s goal is to showcase the uniqueness of each contestant–and the student portraying the role–as they break through the pressure from their overbearing parents and find “themselves connecting over something that a lot of people would presume is dorky.” In order to prepare for the musical premiere on May 1st, her performers have been running lines, learning solos and rehearsing with a live band. Ms. McBrien notes that the process of directing a musical must start with actually finding one that suits her students. The many roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee allowed for flexible casting–“my goal is to give everybody something [of a role] if they’re interested,” Ms. McBrien adds.
Casting also consumes a big part of musical preparation. Ultimately, with casting choices, “it breaks down to how confidently someone could sing,” not so much their singing talent, according to Ms. McBrien. From there, she also considers how dedicated the student is, their comedic timing and which parts might suit them.
Meet the Hive
Through the arrival of spring, the busy bees have worked hard to be performance-ready. With rehearsals three times a week, actors, actresses, crew members, lighting technicians, costume designers, prop designers, musicians, the director (and other key faculty advisors like Mr. Burd, Mr. Blair and Mr. Hamilton) work together to produce a bee-rilliant performance. Many actors are experiencing mixed emotions about the prospect of performing in the 900-seat auditorium rather than the black box theater room where the smaller scale plays are normally hosted.
Spelling Bee’s much larger scale in terms of production, cast, preparation, and audience would make any bee flutter. Selina Zhang, who plays the judge, Ms. Stetson, feels “excited and nervous [because] a lot of people are coming”. To combat some of the butterflies, Arlenny Nuñez Santiago, who plays contestant Jenny Duvetine, has “done vocal warmups and singing exercises … and focused on nailing the comedic timing.” Damian Thomas, who plays Vice Principal Panch, the pronouncer, explains that he’s “run over [his] lines at least 10 times along with [his] songs and blocking.” In the midst of all the practicing and prep, the actors still have had time to reflect on their efforts. Emmanuel Gray, who plays Chip Tolentino, another contestant, says “it’s a really funny show, and it’s a good time, the story is pretty simple, and so it’s really easy to focus on just the jokes.” Although time is Ms. McBrien’s self-professed worst enemy, everyone seems to be doing their best in rehearsals and practice, so it is safe to say that we can expect a buzz-worthy performance.
So, mark your calendars and get ready for a bee-autiful blend of brains, comedy, and catchy tunes!
Story features additional reporting by Stella Donnelly.
