A Tony Award-winning musical about a group of misfits vying to win a contest will be mounted by nine Heritage Woods secondary students this and next week.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - a long one-act Broadway comedy that won Terry Fox secondary four provincial high school theatre awards in 2011 - will be staged on Jan. 23, 24, 30 and 31 at the Port Moody school.
Guest director Zelda Coertze, a 2008 Pinetree secondary graduate who received her PDP from Simon Fraser University last year, is guest directing the production, of which a G-rate version will also be seen by Heritage feeder schools at two matinees.
Chosen last year by acting students under drama teacher Shanda Walters, Coertze was brought in over the summer.
And right after the teachers' strike was over in mid-September, she got down to business, auditioned and picked her Grade 11 and 12 cast members.
Spelling Bee has a natural narrative that starts with an academically gifted group of teens placed under pressure in a Putnam Valley middle school in New York.
The six "unique" teens vie for the title in a bee that's judged by three "unique" adults, who are also fulfilling their childhood dreams, Coertze said.
Along the way, the characters go on a journey of self-discovery.
Spelling Bee has "everything for someone in musical theatre," said Walters, who is the show's artistic director.
"There's great storytelling. The music is hard. The roles are really crazy. and it's funny. It's rare that I laugh out loud and I do with this," Walters said.
Besides directing, Coertze is also choreographer with actors Valeria Sordi (assistant director) and Danica Kobayashi.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a prelude to Heritage's big spring production, The Little Mermaid.
Tickets at $12/$10 are available through Heritage Woods secondary (1300 David Ave., Port Moody) by calling 604-461-8679.
@jwarrenTC
