“25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee”: 10 reasons to watch Sandbox Collective’s 10th year offering

For its 10th anniversary, Sandbox Collective is staging the local adaptation of the Tony-winning “The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee: An Interactive Comedy Musical.”

“Interactive” is operative word for all the finest reasons. Members of the audience are invited to participate in the spelling contest on stage, making each show unique.

The musical is in English but Sandbox’s managing director Toff de Venecia and his team are mulling a Filipino translation.

"That's always a possibility. We'll consider it for our 2025 season," De Venecia told GMA News Online. 

Before that, here are 10 reasons why you should catch this hilarious interactive comedy.  

1. It’s for the whole family. Adults would remember their adolescent years while teenagers would have a blast seeing themselves, their anxieties, struggles, apprehensions and youthful excitement mirrored in the spellers.

Bring the kids too, or at least those old enough who know their “ABCs”. Just be creative in explaining to them what an “erection” means because one character in the play has to deal with it. Better learn what it is all about from adults like you than irresponsible sources on social media. 

2. Learn new words. Even if you’re well-read, you might be surprised there are words you may have missed like E-L-A-N-G-U-E-S-C-E-N-S-E or Q-A-I-M-A-Q-A-M or something as simple as V-U-G or tricky as T-I-T-T-U-P and so on.

Know how to use them in a sentence. Admit it or not, before the era of Google, we depended on that thick, heavy book called Webster’s, or Merriam-Webster. There is a song in the musical actually titled, “My Friend, The Dictionary.”

3. It’s a nostalgia trip. Assuming you joined spelling bee contests back in school, you’ll be brought back to those times when you had a shot to fame in campus because you’re too clumsy to join the basketball or the volleyball team.

4. You might be chosen as a guest speller. This is an I-N-T-E-R-A-C-T-I-V-E musical. Every show is different because each performance requires four audience members invited to participate in the contest on stage.

But don't worry. They usually choose celebrity guests. At the VIP previews, the likes of comedians Jon Santos, Maymay Entrata, Phi Palmos and media personality Ces Drilon (she preferred to be called Stress Drilon) joined the spellers.

5. It’s the return to stage of Liesl Batucan-del Rosario. The very versatile and acclaimed actress, an Aliw Hall of Fame awardee, is former artistic director of Repertory Philippines and former associate artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino.

She plays the adult lead character Rona Lisa Peretti, one of the richest women in Putman County, winner of the 3rd annual spelling bee and now moderates the contest with the school’s Vice Principal Douglas Panch, alternately played by Audie Gemora and Robbie Guevara (yes, single “r” in the surname, we better get that right). Simply put, Liesl is a N-A-T-U-R-A-L on stage. 

6. We also have to single out the ultra-talented Krystal Brimner. Yes, her surname is spelled with the single “m” and “n.” She plays the school’s newcomer Olive Ostrovsky, and as she strives to win the prize, she waits for the arrival of her father, who is working late as she occasionally explains the absence of her mother, who is on a meditation trip in India.

You may remember Krystal as John Lloyd Cruz’s daughter in Erik Matti’s “Honor Thy Father,” where she won Best Child Performer in the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival.

In theater, she gained similar acclaim when she played the titular role in 2016’s “Annie the musical” at Newport Performing Arts Theater. She bagged the Best Female Lead Performance in a Musical trophy or the equivalent of Best Actress, (not even best child actress) in 2017’s Gawad Buhay Award, beating older nominees.

Now 17 years old, she has grown to be a beautiful and credible multi-platform actress. Her performance simply spells E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-C-E. 

7. The musical has two directors: Missy Maramara and Dingdong Rosales. Both improv artists, Missy and Dingdong are able to prepare the young actors to handle the unscripted parts.

8. Musical director is Rony Fortich, TOYM and Walt Disney Legacy awardee, who in his past life was founding musical director of Hong Kong Disneyland. Nowadays on all weekends till March 17, he brings William Finn’s score to life. 

9. Remember the fat bully kid in school? At some point, we may have been scarred for life because of these maladjusted creatures in our younger years.

In the musical, there’s the arrogant speller William Barfée, played by the hilarious Joshy Ramirez and Ron Balgos. We caught Joshy’s performance and he is really a comic artist, a loveable bully personified on stage. 

10. All the emerging talents! Be amazed by the performances of young and emerging talents AC Bonifacio, Shanaia Gomez, Angela Ken, Becca Coates, Justine Narciso, Diego Aranda, Luis Marcelo, Elian Dominguez and Shaun Ocrisma. It’s a riot of a comedy on stage because of these kids, rather, teenagers acting like kids.  

“The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee: An Interactive Comedy Musical” opens today, February 24, and runs until March 17 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater in Makati. Tickets here.

— LA, GMA Integrated News