After two weekends of spelling the same words over and over again, Colorado Mesa University’s musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” came to a close. The show tells a story about vulnerability, middle schoolers, and failure, and ultimately how people overcome those moments.

A special element of this production was live audience participation, where selected audience members were invited on stage to test their spelling skills alongside the cast.

The show took place in real time, running as a two hour spelling bee. Each character had flash back moments when it was their turn to spell that explored their backstory.

The Bee was hosted by Rona Lisa Peretti (Kelsey McCarty), who won the third annual spelling bee with the word “syzygy.” Peretti explained that syzygy is the the moment when the planets and stars align, which is the atmosphere at the Bee. Vice Priniciple Douglas Panch (Brock Cullen) assisted Peretti, reading off all of the words and giving spellers definitions and sentences.

Vice President of Student Services Dr. Roberto Montoya participated as one of the guest spellers. Montoya was first given the word “cow” before later being invited into a humorous dance number with the cast and other guest spellers.

He was eliminated on the word “their.” When he asked for the word to be used in a sentence, it include all three variations of the word (their, they’re and there). At this point in the story, the host was deliberately trying to eliminate the guests. Montoya was “eliminated” because not matter which version he spelled, it would be incorrect.

When each contestant was eliminated, the remaining constenants sent them off with a chorus of goodbyes. The Comfort Counselor (played by Antwone Blagg) gave each contestant a juice box and a hug on their way off stage to console them on their loss.

In another clever way to draw the audience into the story, the second act opened with Chip Torentino “selling” concessions to the audience members. In the world of Putnam county, it is an annual tradition for a humiliated loser to be forced to be the sales person when they are eliminated. He sang the “My Unfortunuate Erection (Chip’s Lament)” while throwing snacks into the audience.

Many students came out to support the show, including second year vocal student Nataniel Jean, who attended to watch a friend perform.

“I went because Gary Smith was performing in it as Chip,” Jean said.

Chemistry among the cast ran deep throughout the production. Cast members Levi Hughes (Leaf Coneybear) and Annalyn Milford (Olive Ostrovky), both from Erie, Colorado, described how they’ve bonded over theatre.

“There was a couple years where I knew who you were,” Hughes said.

“Me too,” Milford replied.

“And then we became closer friends, like senior year,” Hughes continued.

Milford added, “I always thought that you were cool and stuff. And then I was like, I want to be his friend. He’s nice.”

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Hughes said.

The two first worked together on the musical “Alice by Heart.” They were danced together in the show and their friendship continued to grow through rehearsals and performances.

The two have an inside joke that they’re twins because they danced together.

Both performers reflected on what they learned through their experience working on “Spelling Bee.”

“If you put a lot of hard work into what you do, it will pay off for you,” Milford said. “I did a lot of prep and work for my audition and it worked out well for me. As a freshman I got Olive and that was really exciting. I just kept working and putting myself out of my comfort zone and it helped me develop a lot more in the character. I also learned how to give radical empathy to characters and to understand that they are actually people. They are not just something you imagine. They have experiences and emotions, and when you think about all those things you can bring them to life and make them feel like real people.”

Hughes reflected on the shared experience between performers and the audience.

“Performing is a human experience,” Hughes said. “There are people on stage being vulnerable and giving something to the audience. The audience receives it, reacts to it, and that energy goes right back to the performers. It creates this cycle where everyone is involved. Performing becomes a community experience where the audience and performers are sharing the moment together.”