Kids Spell the Darnedest Things: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre through August 16

As you may be aware, and as the show's moderator Rona Lisa Perretti would no doubt appreciate, there was an atypical bit of theatrical syzygy in the area-theatre schedule this past weekend, as both Quad City Music Guild and the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre debuted productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. My colleague Kitty opened her report on Music Guild's version by reflecting on her own past spelling-bee embarrassment. Here's mine, and it has nothing to do with personal bee participation (which was its own trauma): Generally speaking, I cannot get through this musical comedy without weeping my eyes out.

The reasons are myriad, and include, but are not limited to: the gorgeous, sometimes gorgeously melancholic harmonies and chord progressions in composer/lyricist William Finn's score; the awkward sweetness of “comfort counselor” Mitch Mahoney handing out conciliatory juice boxes; the remaining contestants singing to departing contestants a sad, lullaby refrain of “Goodbye, goodbye ...”; and my staggering inability to remain poker faced in light of youths – even, as here, adults playing youths – being disappointed and shattered, especially in spelling-bee scenarios. (Have you seen 2002's Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound? Freaking wrenching.) So in preparation for my Saturday-afternoon trek to the 'boat, knowing that my favorite 12-year-old and their mom were joining me, and knowing equally well that I didn't want to bawl in front of either of them, I thought I'd try to mitigate the inevitable by listening to Putnam County's original-cast recording in the days before my visit. Five listens later, I almost got through the soundtrack without crying.

Here's the upshot: Under the music direction of Rachel Young (who also conducts and plays keys in the superb five-person orchestra), and with the performers' individual vocal prowess unmistakable, the Showboat's acting ensemble sounds tremendous – easily matching, and occasionally bettering, the vocals of the Broadway cast. In her role as former bee champ Perretti, Grace Avery instantly indicated that the on-stage team would sound exceptional, her every note in the opener perfectly on-pitch and filled with genuine joy. But man oh man, the fantastic vocalists just kept showing up as we met the show's grade-school bee contenders: last year's boastful champ Chip Tolentino (Brody Cahill); buoyant, lisping Logainne Schwartzandgrubennierre (Katie Dina); excitable weirdo Leaf Coneybear (John Sheridan); sardonic weirdo William “there's an accented aigu” Barfée (Caleb Cox); humorless grind Marcy Park (Madeline Burroughs); and Olive Ostrovsky (Jorja Focht), whose mom is at an ashram in India and whose dad might show up and hopefully pay his daughter's $25 entrance fee.

Because Finn gives all of these eccentrics at least one killer solo apiece, and because Tony-winning book writer Rachel Sheinkin frequently provides lovely, revealing dialogue that makes you understand the burgeoning-adolescent pain behind the kids' behavior, I'm usually a wreck at Putnam County in any iteration. (Beyond my deep familiarity with the score, I've seen three local stage productions – as this past weekend indicated, the show gets produced a lot.) For better and worse, though, I wasn't my usual mess at director Ryan Scoble's Showboat presentation. The "better" part is that I didn't have to ugly-sob in front of my friends, though I still welled up every once in a while; I'm only human. Yet I did leave Saturday's matinée wishing I felt more. Scoble's production is wonderfully funny in the first act, before the audience volunteers are jettisoned and the improvisational conceit behind word pronouncer Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Adam Lewis) is mostly jettisoned. too. In different ways, though, Scoble and company almost seem to have designed the presentation, overall, to ensure a minimum of emotional involvement. Clinton's season-ender was terrific. I just wound up not caring about it that much.

This was barely an issue in Act I, which was nearly all laughs, all the time. In addition to Rona, Panch, the six scripted contestants, and the mildly aggrieved-to-be-there Mahoney (Jackson McKinney), Saturday afternoon gave us four audience volunteers: a ponytailed gent who said “Ow!” after hitting his head on one of those low-hanging balcony undersides that always make me nervous at the 'boat; a senior whom Rona said recently won “the Golden Girls lookalike contest”; and bespectacled grade-school twins Andrew and Marcus. (Avery was clearly, hysterically, on improvisational fire at this performance, mentioning that the brothers would've been triplets had Andrew not eaten one of his sibs in utero, and revealing that the nurse at Marcus' birth spontaneously shouted “BOGO!”) None of the volunteers were nearly audible enough. Their mere participation, however, merits kudos, and Lewis gets bonus points for being enthusiastic throughout and treating the nonprofessional guests with dignity, particularly after stumping Marcus with “garmonbozia,” a creamed-corn substance referenced in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. (Full disclosure: I've been friends with Lewis for more than a quarter-century, and we're both Twin Peaks fanatics, and he included the word knowing I'd be in the audience. Thank you, Adam. Mea cupla, Marcus.)

In no way, though, were the volunteers and those addressing them the only sources of Act I delight. More than 24 hours later, I'm still giggling at Sheridan's fearlessly, adorably gonzo take on Leaf, who's every paste-eating, finger-sniffing dweeb you shied away from in grade school, and whose habitual weirdness – getting lost in private reveries before miraculously shouting correct spellings, outfitting his fist with googly eyes à la Señor Wences – makes him utterly irresistible. The routinely hilarious Dina is more than admirable for keeping Logainne's upbeat demeanor and resolve alive despite the flashback appearances of her judgmental fathers, a pair of subtle monsters played by Sheridan and McKinney. (Scoble stages the show's most problematic aspects – double-casting, fantasy sequences, fast-motion montage – with considerable skill.) And I loved Cahill's Chip, who's frequently the Putnam County contestant who gets most lost in the crowd despite his outstanding Act II opener “Chip's Lament.” Cahill, though, is powerfully funny and inventive, and his divinely dry second-act cameo, in another role, made me chuckle all the harder when I read his program bio and saw who Cahill previously played in Jesus Christ Superstar.

With McKinney's winning deadpan comic Mitch leading us into intermission with a galvanizing “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor” and Cahill starting our post-break return by lobbing packaged candy at the crowd, all seemed in place for an equally thrilling second half. Yet one didn't quite arrive. Much of the disappointment has to do with Putnam County as designed. Rona still gets occasional digs in, but Panch's duties – outside of delivering a totally empathetic freakout – are unfortunately sidelined, and several numbers (“I Speak Six Languages,” “Woe Is Me,” “Weltanschauung”) last longer than they really need to. My biggest gripe, though, its that Act II, as a whole, just isn't terribly funny. It's probably not meant to be. But because Clinton's rendition also doesn't provide the cathartic release I'd hoped for and that the show kinda requires, that means that despite offering continuously stellar vocals, this Act II doesn't provide much of anything else.

Focht clearly has a solid handle on Olive as an endearing, muttering-into-her-hand oddball, and she's undeniably sweet and touching. But her unimpeachable singing is so forceful – a kind way of saying “so loud” – that Focht's “The I Love You Song” centerpiece loses its poignancy; I became less invested in Olive's heartsickness given that her vocal power didn't suggest a need for anyone's approval. (Some modulation on the part of her body-mic operator would help enormously.) Burroughs, whom I adored as Sarah Brown in the Showboat's season-opener Guys & Dolls, is initially so absent of even basic expressiveness that I almost mistook her for an audience volunteer. Her conception of the unhappy, perpetually put-upon genius Marcy makes intellectual sense, but I think we needed to see more cracks in the child's emotional armor before Burroughs' glorious jubilation, as it did in June, belatedly lands.

And honestly, I'm still not sure what to make of Cox's Barfée. This kid with the magic foot should certainly be off-putting. I'm not convinced, however, that he needs to be completely hostile and repugnant, and Cox's intensely committed and, to my mind, intensely unwise interpretation makes the character close to unbearable. He's so gross in affect and manner – the patron sitting in front of me wasn't the only one who noticed Barfée wiping boogers on the balcony facing – that I wanted the bee to be rid of him immediately, and wasn't charmed even after William displayed his softer side in Act II. Brave and, in its way, impressive as Cox's sustained stunt is, a Putnam County in which you don't ultimately warm to Barfée seems to miss the whole point of this musical. Cox does have a tremendous voice, though, and performs Scoble's slithery solo choreography with graceful elan.

Unless it's somehow done horrifically, I'm not sure that a truly bummer production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is possible. The show is too clever, smartly composed, and overflowing with humor and tenderness and relatability to not be a good time – and a succinct good time. Even at Saturday's matinée that found volunteers spelling more words correctly than Lewis obviously anticipated, the whole thing clocked in at under two hours, intermission included. If, however, Clinton's entertaining, somewhat underwhelming take is your first exposure to the material, know that true greatness is entirely within the show's reach. By all means, see the 'boat's 2026 season finale. And if you, too, wind up longing for more honest emotionalism, don't worry about it. Another area Spelling Bee will likely debut any minute now.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre (303 Riverview Drive, Clinton IA) through August 16, and more information and tickets are available hy calling (563)242-6760 and visiting ClintonShowboat.com.