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Students competing in the Putnam County Spelling Bee admire the "magic foot" of William Barfée's (middle, played by Josh Ray) in the Skagit Valley College production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Pictured clockwise from bottom left: Clara Johnson, Asumi Oki, Ernest Tutt, Kelly Schultz, Josh Ray, David Logghe, Leisha Madden, Derrek Larson and Alisha Anderson.
Frank Varga
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Students competing in the Putnam County Spelling Bee admire the "magic foot" of William Barfée's (middle, played by Josh Ray) in the Skagit Valley College production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Pictured clockwise from bottom left: Clara Johnson, Asumi Oki, Ernest Tutt, Kelly Schultz, Josh Ray, David Logghe, Leisha Madden, Derrek Larson and Alisha Anderson.
Frank Varga
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When it comes to a typical spelling bee, there’s one word every speller needs to have a handle on.
P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E.
There’s plenty of that to go around — especially one for middle school-aged kids — not just during the competition but behind the scenes, said Diane Johnson, director of Skagit Valley College’s production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” playing Feb. 25 through March 6 at the Phillip Tarro Theatre on the college campus in Mount Vernon.
“You get a glimpse of the crazy lives kids live these days,” Johnson said about the musical’s characters who not only are trying to win the title of spelling bee champion, but are grappling with broken families, sibling rivalry, competitive parents, and in one character’s case, embarrassing pitfalls of puberty.
The combination of laugh-out-loud comedy and heartfelt insight won this mock-musical two Tony Awards, including one for Best Book.
The story follows six quirky students from fictional Putnam Valley Middle School as they compete in the big spelling bee.
• Read more about the musical in the 360 section of Thursday's Skagit Valley Herald.
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