O’Dowd Drama Wows Theater Goers with Spring Musical

By: Delphine Parkin ’26, Contributor to The Crozier

Photography by: Nico Lawes ’27 and Vincent Jurgens

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a hilarious new spring production fantastically showcased by the O’Dowd Drama Department. The play’s two-weekend run provided drama and laughter for the O’Dowd community. This musical comedy debuted on Broadway in 2005 and won a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. For a quick recap of this unique show, it opened with the eight main cast members introducing themselves through a captivating solo song, and then the spelling games began! 

A unique aspect of the show was that the main eight characters were played separately by upper-level and lower-level student casts, with each cast having four outstanding performances. A highlight performance was noted by Claire Davison ’27 and Keira Kennedy ’26, who had to additionally learn sign language with their lines when spelling out words for the spelling bee. When asked about this difficulty, Keira stated, “A part of my character is that she overcomplicates and messes up. But she tried, so I tried.” Act One closed with only one character, Chip Tolentino, getting out due to an unfortunate incident on stage.

The next act began with characters continuing to get out until two were left, Olive Ostrovsky played by Ozzie Schaffer ’28, and Ocian Floyd-Haskell ’26 and William Barfey played by Landon Kennedy ’28 and Hannah Sweeting ’26. William ultimately wins, leading to an emotional song by Olive. Ocian shared that despite being a funny play, the song was an emotional story of wanting to be noticed by her parents and being scared of being the second choice in her life.

The performance was a perfect combination of comedy and an accurate representation of awkward adolescence, enhanced by audience interaction. As the show’s characters are introduced, four audience members join the stage and participate in the spelling bee along with the cast, which required quick wit from the character Rosa Lisa Peretti, played by Elle Hanlon ’27 and Sofia Marletta ’26, who had to give a fast, funny improv statement on each guest. During intermission, Chip Tolentino, played by Eli Morse ’27 and Tristan Valdez ’26, went around to the audience acting as a food vendor carrying a vendor cart, giving the audience a laugh-out-loud experience.

A considerable amount of hard work and dedication goes into the flawless execution of the play. When asked about the work schedule of the play, Charlotte Goyne ’26 explained the process of creating this show. “Production started in January, right after people returned from winter break.” The actors and tech team worked on the play from 3:30-6:30pm each day. Just before the show’s opening is tech week, a time when final aspects of the show are perfected. Everyone in the show puts in work from after school until 8:30pm. 

The students continue working hard in their classes, balancing academics and theater responsibilities. Despite this incredibly hard work, Charlotte shared that she loves theater, and for many like her, they don't mind the hard work, “It's people’s haven away from school.” This hard work and dedication from everyone are truly admirable and easily detectable through the fantastic plays they put on, especially this spring's hilarious production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.