‘Spelling Bee’ opens Revival Theatre Company’s second decade

CEDAR RAPIDS — Revival Theatre Company has learned how to spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s in its first decade. Despite growing pains, heartbreak and a pandemic, the professional troupe based in Cedar Rapids has raised the bar for staging musicals in the Corridor.

The now-established company is going back to school, launching its next decade with “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” The musical comedy, laced with adolescent angst and heart, will be onstage Oct. 11 to 20 at CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids.

Set in a middle school gymnasium, it’s the story of six young super spellers vying for the county title, in hopes of making a beeline up the competition ladder before they age out. Each one brings to the hive a distinct personality and backstory giving glimpses into what has shaped their young lives. All are played by young adults, from a high school senior to those in their 20s.

Shepherding adult actors through adolescent roles involves finding and embracing those backstories.

  Buy Photo

“Part of it comes from the script — how the dialogue is written, and the things they are speaking about. That is the foundation,” said director Brian Glick, 37, of Cedar Rapids. “And then it’s discovering the previous action of the piece, to help (the actors) come in with an idea of their home life. For a lot of these characters, that defines them.

“For instance, you have one going through hormone changes. You have one going through neglect because their parents aren’t around, (and) one who has a hippie family and ADHD. All those things immediately help me and the actors define that behavior and what that’s like for a 12-year-old,” Glick said. “I think we can all remember what it’s like to be in middle school. And whether it gives you anxiety or not, it certainly helps shape the trials and tribulations.

“There’s a line in the show that says, ‘Life is random and unfair, life is pandemonium,’ and that really defines the piece and those characters — and that’s childhood, and that’s adulthood. It is unfair and unpredictable, and that's what they’re coming to terms with.”

  Buy Photo

Audience participation

Three adults lead the way for the bee — and several audience members will be chosen to participate as spellers, too.

But never fear, Glick said the audience spellers will be tapped as they enter the theater, so others needn’t squirm in their seats, afraid of being put on the spot in the spotlight.

“The trick is, you want people who aren’t performers,” Glick said. “You want it to be (someone) off the street. That’s what makes it funny.”

Trivia tidbit: Broadway.com reported that Julie Andrews missed “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” as a guest-speller on KIDS night on Broadway in 2007.

However, being chosen to come onstage in a June 2005 Broadway production was “a highlight of my theatergoing life,” said Dr. Christopher Okiishi of Iowa City, whose husband, Patrick Du Laney, is appearing in the Revival Theatre production. (Remember the “doctor” part of the name.)

Glick gleefully shared Okiishi’s experience: “They gave him a special award, because they gave him all these medical terms (to spell), thinking he wouldn’t get it. And finally they’re like, ‘You have to get out.’ They said, ‘Spell cow, and spell it wrong.’ ”

Okiishi, a psychiatrist and theater pro, confirmed that, adding, “It was really fun.”

And that’s the point of the show — to have fun, Glick and musical director/pianist Matthew Meckes agreed.

  Buy Photo

“(Audiences) can expect a hell of a good time,” Glick said. “It’s funny, it’s feel-good, but there’s also going to be poignant moments that make people go, ‘Oh, that reminds me of my kid,’ or ‘That reminds me of me.’ And just the challenges of being adolescent in a competitive nature really can take a toll on some people. People really struggle with not being perfect, so I tell the cast you’ve just got to dive in — jump in feetfirst with what the show asks, and how silly it is, and we just do it.”

“I think it holds a mirror to the audience in a lot of ways,” said Meckes, 37, who lives in New Jersey and works primarily in New York City, currently as a rehearsal pianist for “MJ: The Musical.”

“The epilogue has a very uplifting message,” he added, “because, in a way, we forget what it’s like to be a kid and how difficult that is. Nowadays, I often say I would not survive high school. I would not survive college. I wouldn’t know what to say. …

“But ultimately, I think it’s uplifting,” Meckes noted. “I think people will walk out of the show feeling rejuvenated in a way, and perhaps find some piece of themself. There’s some good feelings in it.”

Even with the challenges and complications the characters face, Meckes said, “At the end of the day, life goes on, and we do grow up, and we continue on, and things happen. So the bee is sort of this microcosm of life, which is that you are constantly trying to achieve something or to get to the next level. And what does that really mean? I hope that the show gives people a sense of no matter where you are in life, it’s OK to be there and to live in that moment.”

“A good time with poignancy,” Glick said.

“And it’ll be funny,” Meckes added. “My biggest challenge is going to be to not laugh, because the audience can see me. So I said I’m laughing a lot now during rehearsals, so that once we get into show,” he can just concentrate on playing the piano and leading the orchestra, which also includes a drummer, reed player, cellist and another keyboard player.

The music

“It’s not a super well-known show musically,” Meckes said, noting it came out before cast albums gained their current popularity. “There’s a lot of youthfulness in the music, and it’s simple in a way, to reflect where these kids are at in their life. But within that simplicity, there’s a lot of complexity, to underpin and undergird all the things that they’re going through.

“One of the kids is a child of divorce, so he has a sort of a circusy kind of tune, but there are moments for him where it becomes very sincere and we sort of peel back the layers. For another character, her entire song is really sort of inside of her head. And I feel like the music functions as a way to get inside of their heads, as opposed to performative, although there are certainly many numbers in the show that are theatrical,” Meckes said.

Those are tough years to navigate. Glick, who attended Olin Consolidated Schools, admitted he was “scared to death” during middle school.

“I had no problem in high school, but middle school was an adjustment for me,” he said, “because everything’s different, your body’s changing. Friends start to change who they’re friends with. You have more responsibilities at home and at school. There’s more homework. You don’t have recess anymore. Life starts to take a shift to prepare you for high school, essentially. It’s a lot to figure out, and that creates anxiety and a lot of questions about how it all works.”

Meckes agreed. Both directors were involved in performing arts, and Meckes, who grew up in Nazareth, Pa., also played soccer in middle school, before theater “took over” his life.

He joined the Revival company for this show — and “Next to Normal” in the spring — by answering Glick’s national call for a musical director. The biggest heartbreak of Revival’s first decade came Feb. 11, 2023, with the sudden death of musical director Cameron Sullenberger, who co-founded the company with Glick in 2014.

In their first Zoom meeting, Meckes and Glick discussed Sullenberger, his legacy and how Meckes would mesh with today’s Revival Theatre.

“My aim was to be, obviously, respectful of that, and to fill those shoes with grace and humility, but also bring whatever it is I have to offer to the table,” Meckes said. “I just hope I’ve been able to do that.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com