I have to confess I don't have much experience with shows by William Finn. The 25th Annual County Spelling Bee is the first show of his I've seen live. I saw it in a Chicago production in a long-term stay in a 500 seat theater. I believe the cast was a combination of locals and actors brought in for the production. It played for about a year I think. I recall loving it when I saw it. It really celebrates our individuality and the quirkiness in each of us, and also pokes fun at our nation's current competition-fever and pushy parents. It's witty without being overly insightful.
This is one of those shows that really needs to be seen to be appreciated, I think. The cast album alone doesn't pass along the charms of the characters. I just kept trying to figure out if there is any structure to the music. While being tuneful, it doesn't really have tunes--at least not that are strophic (with verses) or in an A-B-A form with which I feel most comfortable. Yes, I am an old-fashioned bitty.
The liner notes for the cast album includes the lyrics which struck me as odd. Apart from the vocabulary words that the characters are asked to spell, I could understand everthing that was sung. There is a bit also on the creation of the show, through workshops, and off-Broadway that mostly spoke about the likability of the show's story line. I wished for a bit more background on William Finn, but maybe that's because I don't know much about him or his other shows.
I also find it interesting that James Lapine directed this production. I know his name from Sondheim shows. While I don't hear a lot of similarity between Finn's and Sondheim's music, I guess the similarity is in how characters are continually interrupting one another, causing challenges to the staging.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Original Broadway Cast Recording
Recorded on April 5, 2005, released by Ghostlight Records
Cast: Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jose Llana, Jay Reiss, Sarah Saltzberg
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