Wkbw, wivb, wgrz, wben, my dad is better than your dad, channel 2 buffalo
BUFFALO — This is hugely embarrassing, so let’s get the ugly facts right out on the table.
Ten days ago, I contrived to be a guest participant in the touring production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The Tony Award-winning show, the original production of which closed on Broadway last week after 1,157 performances, was in Buffalo at the Shea Theatre for five nights, en route to its arrival at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre on Tuesday - part of Dancap Productions’ inaugural season.
In spirit, Spelling Bee is a show like A Chorus Line, except the actors dance with words instead of their feet. Six preteeners, representing every colour in the American racial rainbow, compete for first prize and, along the way, sing songs that tell us something about their lives, hopes, dreams, conflicts and so on. You catch my drift. Here, winning isn’t everything, which is not a message Vince Lombardi would have saluted.
The script, by Rachel Sheinkin, is clever. Music and lyrics are by the estimable William Finn (Falsettos). Not his finest hour, but they seem to work.