Joan Marcus
spellingbeethemusical.com/press
It's not often that an understudy will dominate the stage at such a velocity that you nearly forget there are regular performers on stage.
But in Tuesday's opening show of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," Jeffrey James Binney did just that.
At 6-feet-3 inches tall and 300 pounds, Binney pranced across the stage with an unparalleled grace - turning his wedgie-picking oaf of a character, William Barfee, into a lovable, ballroom-dancing brainiac.
The show's characters are based on clichéd elementary school students: the smart snob, fat nerd, awkward weirdo and liberal overachiever, among others. And as predicted, the show dissects the layers of a county spelling bee - winners and losers alike.
Roberta Duchak's character, Rona Lisa Peretti, acts as the moderator for the spelling bee. Although her singing voice is likely the best of the show, her character is flat and unexciting - also making it the most disposable.
But in place of Duchak's lackluster portrayal is Kevin Smith Kirkwood's performance as Mitch Mahoney, the "Official Comfort Counselor."
As Mitch, Kirkwood acts as an ex-con doing his community service as part of the spelling bee and handing out juice boxes to disqualified participants.
Impressively, Kirkwood was able to perform the show's music and dances while sporting extremely baggy jeans, "bling" and full-on Milli Vanilli dreadlocks.
Unfortunately, Vanessa Ray's performance as Olive Ostrovsky, the awkward girl waiting for her dad to show up, is easy to overlook.
Binney brings Ray's character to life when Barfee develops a crush on the odd tween and twirls her in the air during a moonlit dance.
Her tiny frame is hard to notice next to Binney's bold body, but even the acting is mediocre when compared to Binney's wild, hilarious portrayal.
The show flows nicely and isn't too interrupted by musical tunes. The dance numbers also are decent - but not spectacular.
Repeatedly, the actors barely miss the boat of being theatrically amazing. Katie Boren's dance skills as Marcy Park take the cake.
Aside from Binney and Boren, Dana Steingold perfected the role as tiny, lisping liberal Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre.
With her itty-bitty stature and high-energy stage presence, Steingold pinpoints the cliché character with ease.
Many of the actors of "Spelling Bee" double as other small parts, such as Schwartzandgrubenierre's gay dads, Leaf's siblings and Jesus.
The switch-up of characters sweetens the show - acting as a pinch of sugar for something that would typically be a bit drab.
The traveling cast of "Spelling Bee" is diverse and interesting, but slightly above average at best. What the play lacks in other actors, Binney makes up for it.
If Shrek came to life, he would be this man - chubby charm and all.