As you walk into The Circle in the Square Theatre you can’t help but notice the pep squad posters and student council banners. You realize that you’re not going to see a play about the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, you are going to the actual spelling bee itself. It starts when you walk into the gym and the head judge introduces the contestants, and ends when the trophy is awarded. For an hour and forty-five minutes you watch 6 actors and 4 audience members, well . . spell. This doesn’t sound like fun, but I have to tell you I spent the entire time laughing my ass off. And yes, I did say 4 audience members, if you get there early enough, you can sign up to be in ‘the bee’. You’ll probably get easy words like Mexicans and cow (”can I hear it used in a sentence? yes, your sentence is: just spell cow”) until they’re ready to be done with you, then they’ll hit you with the impossible to spell embarrassing word, but it’s still a chance to say you were on Broadway.

The six actors all represent different types of smart nerdy kids, and it’s hard to watch them and not compare them to people you know. There’s the homeschool boy who shows up in a cape, the Asian brainiac girl who speaks six languages, the politically-savy daughter of two gay men, the shy, quiet girl whose parents don’t show up, the boy-scout who gets easily distracted by a cute girl in the front row and has to pull his number down to hide his ‘excitement’ and the elementary school version of comic book store guy (from The Simpsons). Now be forewarned, this is a musical, and I’m not sure why, cause the musical numbers kill the timing. But overall it’s one of the funnest and funniest nights you can have at the theatre. Regular tickets are pricey at $95 bucks, but you can check for discounts here (if any are available), or stop by the box office and put your name in a $25 lottery (they take names 2 hours before showtime and pick names 90 minutes before, 2 per person).