Stay for a S-P-E-L-L: Musical comedy 'Putnam County' is something to bee-hold at the Albuquerque Little Theatre

The losers get a juice box.

An eclectic group of tweens vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing funny and poignant stories from their home lives, the kids spell their way through a series of potentially made-up words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing “ding” of the bell signaling a mistake.

Albuquerque Little Theatre will stage the audience participation musical comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” from Friday, March 8, through March 24.

Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally quirky grown-ups.

Each time a speller is called, moderator Rona shares a piece of information about them. When she calls Leaf Coneybear, he has a flashback to when he got into the county bee on a lark. His word is capybara, which he ends up spelling correctly while in a trance. Olive is shown to be shy and reserved, a result of her largely absent parents. She has come to love spelling by reading the dictionary in her home (“My Friend, the Dictionary”). When William Barfée is called to spell for the first time, Rona describes his unusual technique – he spells the word out on the ground with his foot to get a visual before speaking it.

Logainne Schwartzy then gets “Cystitis,” and is shown studying with her two often-arguing fathers in a flashback. When Leaf is called the second time, he reminisces about how his family calls him “dumb” (“I’m Not That Smart.”)

The musical treats the audience members as if they were the audience at the fictitious spelling bee.

The show stars Emily Melville as Rona, Nicholas Handley as the vice principal and Lando Ruiz as Comfort Counselor. The spellers are Tim Chivalette as Barfée. Morgan Geddes and Abby Van Gerpen play Olive and Logainne. Matthew Nufer is Coneybear.

Spelling Bee premiered on Broadway in 2005, and closed in 2008, after 1,136 performances. Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor.