25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

1	The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 4:44
2	The Spelling Rules/My Favorite Moment of the Bee 1 / Lisa Howard 1:41
3	My Friend, The Dictionary / Lisa Howard 2:45
4	The First Goodbye 0:23
5	Pandemonium / Company 2:52
6	I'm Not That Smart / Jesse Tyler Ferguson 2:39
7	The Second Goodbye 0:35
8	Magic Feet / Dan Fogler 2:35
9	Pandemonium (Reprise)/My Favorite Moment of the Bee 2 / Derrick Baskin 1:48
10	Why We Like Spelling / Spellers 2:51
11	Prayer of the Comfort Counselor / Derrick Baskin 2:20
12	My Unfortunate Erection (Chip's Lament) / Jose Llana 2:38
13	Woe Is Me 2:31
14	I'm Not That Smart (Reprise) / Jesse Tyler Ferguson 0:46
15	I Speak Six Languages / Deborah S. Craig 2:29
16	The I Love You Song / Derrick Baskin 5:56
17	Woe Is Me (Reprise) 1:00
18	My Favorite Moment of the Bee 3/Second / Lisa Howard 6:35
19	Finale 1:01
20	The Last Goodbye 0:23

Barnes & Noble

Underdog that it is, this spunky little musical still garnered seven 2005 Tony nominations including Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical as well as Best Direction of a Musical. Hear what the fuss is all about on this terrific original cast recording.

All Music Guide

Who would of thunk it? That some ingenious soul(s) would use the spelling bee -- that great American institution that millions of children have suffered through -- as a gristmill for a Broadway musical? The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee does exactly that, and Ghost Light has provided an original Broadway cast recording of the musical. The compositions and lyrics are from William Finn, and with a Tony under his belt, he's got the experience to make even a spelling bee dramatic. As one might imagine, the cast includes a number of overachievers gathered at a junior high gym for the contest. There are love songs to the dictionary ("My Friend, the Dictionary" rhymes Nietzsche with Christiana Richie), expressions of inferiority ("I'm Not That Smart"), and lots and lots of spelling. The music is catchy and the cast are fine singers, though numbers like "Pandemonium" are a bit overwhelming as what seems like a dozen spellers trade lines and build to a crescendo as the band plays louder and louder. A musical without the visuals can seem a bit fragmented, and that's true of The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee. Some may find all of this a bit precious and not unlike sitting through another spelling bee. Others (i.e., overachievers) will no doubt enjoy a glance back at their glory days. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.