25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Over the weekend, we saw the touring company of the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”.

What a terrific show! It was funny (snarky without being mean-spirited), clever (knowing without being pretentious), and had some great original music by William Finn. He also wrote the brilliant “Falsettos.”

This clip is from the Tony Award telecast from 2005. The show won the Tony that year for Best Book and Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Dan Fogler (William Barfée with the “Magic Foot”).

With each show, a guest speller is on stage. In this clip, Al Sharpton is the guest speller. While no famous person was in the performance we saw, the four locals were hilarious.

And to remind you, it’s lugubrious “meaning extremely sad and droopy.”