Alison Stewart: This is going to be fun. You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. It has been 20 years since the Broadway Show, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee debut, and now it's back on stage in an acclaimed revival. The New York Times named it a critics pick, and called it, "A perfect salve for an ugly world, the gift we didn't realize we desperately needed." The eclectic crew of middle schoolers is back with all their character quirks and hilarious songs, and we're excited to have some of them here in our CR5 Performance Studio. We've got Kevin McHale, who plays the gifted and confident William Barfée. Tony nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers. Hi, Jasmine.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Hi.

Alison Stewart: Who stars as the talented, friendly Olivia. Tony nominee Justin Cooley, AKA Leaf Coneybear, the unlikely and endearing contestant, and Leana Rae Concepcion, who plays the prolific polyglot Marcy Park. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been extended all the way through September, so you have plenty of time to see it. For a preview of what is in store, we're goingn to start things off with some music. Jasmine, what are we going to hear first?

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Yes, this is, actually, My Friend, the Dictionary, and my character's name is Olive, which is fine, you're right.

Alison Stewart: What did I say?

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Olivia? [laughs]

Alison Stewart: Oh, Olive. Sorry.

[laughter]

Kevin McHale: Olive, for short.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: No, you're good. Yes, this is My Friend, the Dictionary. It is the first solo in the show, so yes.

Alison Stewart: Let's hear it.

[MUSIC - My Friend, the Dictionary: Spelling Bee]

I saved a chair for my dad

In the eighth row on the aisle

And it may take him a while

But when he gets here, that's his chair

Because my mother's in an ashram in India

And I saved a chair for her too

But it's merely symbolic

As daily she washes herself in the Ganges

And I live in a house

Where there's an oversized dictionary

That I read

As a girl

On the toilet. [chuckles]

I love my dictionary

And I love the indented border

Every word's in alphabetical order

Ergo, lost things always can be found

And I wrap my head around

The fact that in one book

Is the entire language of our species

Which is a favorite term of Nietzche's [chuckles]

Who's the great-grandfather of Christina Ricci's

Yes I joke, but the words in the dictionary

Are the friends that I'll have forever

More than the friends I have made in school

She's such a lovely girl

With a lovely little voice

And I heard that she's pro-choice

Though still a virgin

And she talks into her hand

An often used technique

What you do not understand

Is once I say it then I've said it

And so much to her credit

She talks into her hand and turns aside

So I will not make a mistake and be disqualified

My friend the dictionary

Is a very reliable friend

Doo doo doo doo doo doo

Bah dah dah dah dah dah dah.

Alison Stewart: I'm in the studio with the cast members from a new revival of the 25th Annual Putnam County, Spelling Bee. Kevin, you made your state debut at the Kennedy Center-

Kevin McHale: Yes, I did.

Alison Stewart: -in Spelling Bee in 2024.

Kevin McHale: Yes.

Alison Stewart: How did that opportunity come up?

Kevin McHale: I just auditioned.

[laughter]

Kevin McHale: I had never done theater before, and my [chuckles] manager, who is family at this point, I've been with her since I was 14 years old-

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Kevin McHale: -and now I'm 16, so that's crazy. Oh, gosh.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: That's amazing.

Kevin McHale: Yes. Thank you. She had been trying to get me to do theater for so long, and I was so resistant to it, and this came up, and I was just obsessed with it. I thought I was going to be auditioning for the part actually Justin plays, Leaf.

Alison Stewart: Oh, really?

Kevin McHale: Yes, and I was like, "Okay, I think they messed up. I don't know why they want my audition for Barfée, but sure. After reading the script and listening to all the music, I realized that, I was like, "Oh, yes, Barfée is correct, and the casting directors do know what they're doing."

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Kevin McHale: I auditioned, and I was very excited. My boyfriend also, this is his favorite musical, and he was very excited, so I was like, "Okay, great. You're coaching me," and forced him to sit in the room. We'd never done that before, and I was like, "Is this good? Is this funny?" He could give me all the notes. He was my cheat code, and here we are.

Alison Stewart: Leana, you were in that production as well?

Leana Rae Concepcion: I was.

Alison Stewart: What made you want to come back to do it?

Leana Rae Concepcion: Oh, my gosh. It is a joy bomb, right? The show that I did previous to this, it was 2 hours and 45 minutes, so almost a 3 hour show. Very heavy. Then when we got to do at the Kennedy Center, we only did 11 shows, and it was so much fun, not just for us on the stage, but also just everyone that was in the audience. I was like, "How can I not want to do this again, and bring it home to New York City as well, and bring the revival back?" I think it's cool to be able to bring the show to a new generation of theater goers and lovers, because this show is so many people's favorites, and also, not a lot of people know about it. It's really exciting to see people experience it for the first time with us.

Alison Stewart: Jasmine, last time you were here was for Betty Boop.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: It was.

Alison Stewart: That's a show where you are front and center, and this is very much an ensemble production. What do you like about being part of an ensemble?

Jasmine Amy Rogers: I love sharing the load. I think it's nice to be front and center sometimes, but it's also nice to just exist amongst each other. This cast is so wonderful in that we really do support each other throughout the entire show. It's so different, and it's so lovely and so joyous and fun, and you get to explore relationships in a little bit of a different way. I really love it. I love that it's not all on me. I will say that for sure.

[laughter]

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Yes, it's not that Boop was all on me. We had incredible cast of people doing everything. It was incredible, but this is just so completely different. It's really, really nice. Yes, you get to just sit in a chair.

Leana Rae Concepcion: Yes.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Spoken by the guy who was in Kimberly Akimbo, right? Justin, what has it been like to follow up that show, Kimberly Akimbo with this show?

Justin Cooley: Wow. It felt like such a great opportunity for me to grow into myself as an actor, because I did Kimberly Akimbo when I was 18, and was not very experienced, and was not even a professional actor, actually, objectively.

[laughter]

Justin Cooley: There was something I got so much love, and I had incredible people I was working with. Victoria Clark was my co-star, and she was just so kind, so great, so talented. I had a little mama bird kind of pulling me around at that time, so coming to my next thing where I was coming in as Justin Cooley quotations [chuckles] or whatever was really intimidating to follow up that big thing, but it was like, "You know how to do this. You know what you're bringing in. This is an opportunity to just grow into yourself even more." It was really exciting to do that big second show in New York.

Alison Stewart: You also get to talk about Spelling again, because your character in Kimberly Akimbo--

Justin Cooley: Yes, I need to know how many more shows involve spelling because that is the only way I get hired.

[laughter]

Justin Cooley: You know what?

Alison Stewart: I'm kidding.

Justin Cooley: Keep writing them, please, these spelling shows.

Alison Stewart: Was anybody ever involved in spelling base when you were kids?

Leana Rae Concepcion: No.

Kevin McHale: Yes, sir.

Justin Cooley:: I think I did one in maybe fourth grade, and that was the first and last time. It did not go well.

Leana Rae Concepcion: I think I remember, I almost said auditioning for one when I was in fourth grade, and I misspelled the word it. I think I missed the apostrophe, and I was like, "That was a trick question."

[laughter]

Leana Rae Concepcion: The answer is no.

Justin Cooley: That's sneaky. They're two spellings.

Leana Rae Concepcion: I was never considered. They just knew. They said, "That's not for you," and I said, "No, it's simply not."

Justin Cooley: I did Spelling Bees in third, fourth, and fifth grade.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Oh my gosh.

Justin Cooley: Yes, but I had deafening stage fright at that time. It was so traumatic. I remember walking off and, like, crying with my mom after I got out. It was so sweet, but I was really brave in giving it my all.

Kevin McHale: Two years in a row.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Aww.

Justin Cooley: Yes, I never made it to counties, so this is dream fulfillment.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: I'm in studio with the cast members from the new revival of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We've got Kevin McHale, Jasmine Amy Rogers, Justin Cooley, and Leana Rae Concepcion. Jasmine, this is interesting. You told Broadway Direct Olive was a character that I didn't think I'd ever get to play, and also someone I wasn't sure was right for me to play. What made you unsure?

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Well, you can hear my voice. [laughs] I talk in the basement. I, for the longest time considered myself an alto, and this is very much not an alto role. I remember in high school listening to one of the songs that she sings in the show, the I Love You song, and just thinking it was something that was out of my range, both vocally and acting wise. I've never gotten to play this sweet, quiet, innocent girl before, and coming off of Boop, which was just so full of life and energy, I didn't know if people saw me that way. I'd like to think of myself as a very capable actress. I want to do everything, and this is part of me showing the world that I can do everything, but I really did not think it was something that was for me, and especially being a Black girl growing up in this body, and watching Olive have been previously always a white woman. I didn't think it was something that was for me. I think what's nice is that the character isn't about her race necessarily. She's just a girl. If that's the experience you have growing up, that's the experience you have growing up, but it's been really, really nice, because I'm also a very boisterous, loud person in life-

[laughter]

Kevin McHale: No.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: -so it's nice to show people that I also have another side to me that is this very shy kind of reserved little lady, and it's nice.

Alison Stewart: Kevin William Barfée has an unfortunate name, unfortunately. He's got one working nostril.

Kevin McHale: Yes.

Alison Stewart: He's a know-it-all because he is, right?

Kevin McHale: Yes.

Alison Stewart: How do you approach playing him in a way that is both funny, but also empathetic?

Kevin McHale: Leana has talked about this a lot in interviews, and I'm going to steal it a little bit, but I think the magic of the show, and Danny, our director, really was focused on this, is that we're not making fun of any of these kids. They are so pure, and for better or for worse, they're so pure and they're showing up because they all want to win. They all want to fit in, and they don't know how that's going to happen. The beauty of the show is that them being so genuine with all their little quirks, and odd things is funny, but at no point are we making fun of them.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Yes.

Kevin McHale: I think, for me, with Barfée, it's like, yes, he's a bit of a bully, but it's because he's been bullied, and so he has to play offense. He's loud, and the sinus issues, I don't really have to act for that because-

[laughter]

Kevin McHale: I, too, have chronic sinus issues, but the opposite of Jasmine, where I'm not a loud and boisterous person normally. For me, Barfée was scary because he is loud, and he's confrontational, and he's not afraid to say what he wants to say, and I'm the opposite. It has been a really wonderful way for me to learn that part about myself and with all these characters getting to go back and play kids, when you're so awkward and uncomfortable, and your body's changing, and your nose is too big for your face, and you don't know-- it's nice to actually be able to go back and revisit that, and remember that, but also remember we're not always this way. I think, for all of us, it's, I don't want to speak for all of us, but to be able to dip into that, and reimagine ourselves as kids again has just been a real gift.

Alison Stewart: Marcy Park, man, she's on steroids. Overachieving student,-

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: -if I've ever seen one. How did you think about your role in taking her from just being really two-dimensional?

Leana Rae Concepcion: Ah, thank you for that question. It is something that I actually struggled with so much at the Kennedy Center. We didn't really have any rehearsal, and I didn't know the show or her at all. Actually, my performance of Marcy at the Kennedy Center haunts me, but I'm so happy that we had the year away from it, so I could really figure her out because I think, actually, Marcy Park, is an Asian woman, and was originated by an Asian woman.

I think over the last 20 years, has gotten a lot of stereotypes, like Asian stereotypes placed on her, that actually is not even in the text. Actually, everything in the text about Marcy is the antithesis of how she has been consistently played for the last 20 years. The thing that I take very seriously is making sure that any young Asian person who is seeing my body on stage, having them understand that they are more than just all of these stereotypes.

She's actually not even a overachieving student. She's just very good at everything. She actually doesn't really care about this. It's actually not what she wants to be doing at all, but she's being asked to do it because she can. I think that's why the her come to Jesus moment, not even in quotations-

[laughter]

Leana Rae Concepcion: -is my favorite part of my journey with her because she finally has the freedom to make a choice for the first time in her life, and makes the choice that she actually doesn't want this, and that is okay, and she has an understanding that she does have choice. I think that that is such a strong message. I love her, and I hope I'm taking care of her, and I hope that we are showcasing young Asian people who are maybe pushed to do things that they necessarily don't want to be doing, that they have the freedom of choice to do what it is that they are pulled to do rather than being asked to do.

Alison Stewart: How would you fill in that sentence? Leaf Coneybear is what, Justin?

Justin Cooley: Wonderful.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: He's wonderful.

Justin Cooley: Whimsical, silly, splendid.

Alison Stewart: What makes him so endearing?

Justin Cooley: I think that Leaf is so endearing because he's a kid full with a bunch of love, but who just doesn't quite know how to live in this world [chuckles] in an elegant and digestible way. He's kind of like a little wrecking ball or a little cloud above everyone, and that's something that's severely relatable to me, and my experience growing up, and like Kevin was saying, revisiting our childhood selves, like, Leaf feels like me reconnecting with everything that actually was embarrassing to me, and that I slowly, slowly socialized out of myself over the years, and now it's, like, take all of that, expose it, and find the light in it. That's just been a really beautiful process. It's true, I think being an adult and being to look at that kid, and being able to see the audience look at that kid, it's like, "Oh, he is trying his best, and he just loves everyone, and he's just kind of [chuckles] in the clouds a little bit, but that's special. That's special and beautiful in its way.

Alison Stewart: Well, let's hear your song you're going to sing. It's called I'm Not That Smart.

Justin Cooley: Thank you so much.

[MUSIC - I'm Not That Smart: Spelling Bee]

I'm not that smart

My siblings have been telling me that for years-

That I'm not smart

We're schooled at home

They've seen who's bright

It breaks my heart

I'm not that smart

Guess what?

I'm going to tell you a little story

I have a gentle personality

Doodle, doodle

Which you'll all agree

Is another mod to my more aggressive family

Everyone keeps swatting

Dumb kid

Everyone keeps yelling

Dumb kid

How could a flea such as me

Think he'd be good at spelling? [chuckles]

How?

I don't know. [laughs]

I like my hair

Really

It is pleasant to the touch

I toss my hair a bit too much it doesn't move it simply sits

I make a part I'm not that smart.

Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw

DawDaw Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw

Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw Daw

Doodle Doodle Doodle Doodle

Doodle Doodle Doo Doo Doo

Doodle Doo Doodoo dum Doodoo dum

I might be smart

My siblings can't believe I got it right

But I got it right, right I didn't cheat no, no, no,

I saw this light and it was me

I like to laugh I like to spell I like to never hear the bell

and if this competition's hell at least I'm finally apart

I feel my heart begin to swell

I like, I love to spell.

I like it a lot.

[applause]

Alison Stewart: We'll have more with the cast of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee after a quick break.

[music]

Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. I'm in the studio with cast members from a new revival of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We have Kevin McHale, Jasmine Rogers, Justin Cooley, Leana Rae Concepcion, and on piano, we have Elizabeth Doran, and the cellist is Sasha Ono. Hello to you, and thank you for being here as well. This show has such a long history. So many people have been in this show. I saw this with Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Lis and Celia Keenan-Bolger as Olivia. Jasmine, have any of the others who have been in this show come to see it? Greta Lee was in the show. It was great.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: We had Greta Lee not too long ago. The entire original cast has now seen it, and so it was just really, really an honor. A lot of them came to opening. It's really been amazing because they have so much love for the show, and also so much respect for the characters, and the new life that we've brought to them. It was really nice to get to share that with them, opening night and beyond, because they've come at different times, but it's been so special.

Alison Stewart: Leana, why do you think this show has legs?

Leana Rae Concepcion: Because it is fun. I also think, too, in terms of commercial ability for shows, it is also how it's going to work regionally, and how it's going to be accessible for young people, and this show does. I think something that's cool about when you do a professional production, there's a lot of doubling, but when you bring it to a small high school in Alabama, those doubling parts can be played by other students, or there can be an ensemble in the show. It just gives the opportunity for kids to be kids, which is also exciting, and to really tell such a beautiful story that'll resonate with everyone seeing the show.

Alison Stewart: If you're thinking about Broadway right now, Kevin, it's like a Glee reunion.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: You've got Lea Michele in Chess, and just Jonathan Groff, and just in time, Matthew Morrison's going to take over for him, Darren Criss. From your experience on Glee, what is something that you use in musical theater regularly?

Kevin McHale: Oh, almost everything.

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Kevin McHale: They would all tell me that, because we would talk about it a lot, because half the cast had basically come from the theater world. Half of us had no experience doing musical theater, and I would always talk about how daunting theater seemed. They're like, "What we're doing here is almost the exact same thing, minus the very big difference of doing it live in front of people."

We were shooting music videos basically every day, and so when we were on, albeit fake, an auditorium stage, and so I feel the characters we were playing, and that also in a similar way to what I'm doing now, and Spelling Bee pull from a similar experience and dance rehearsal, learning all these parts, and all those things that I had to do, our schedules were so crazy during Glee, and any job after seems a little easier.

[laughter

Kevin McHale: Back then, we would say like, "Oh, did you have an ultimate Glee day?" Which was, like, recording studio dance rehearsal, and filming and a fitting, and we would do that, and it's like, we're doing all of those things. Everybody in theater is doing all of those things at different times, but that having that experience, and having done it is so useful, and I feel so lucky because it is tapping back into those things. Like, how does your body work going through all of that?

Again, we went on tour. We did get to have the live component. It was a little different. [chuckles] It was in an arena, but it's all the same thing. Your body reacts the same way to it, so it does feel very familiar to me. Sorry, there's so many of us, and we're all over New York.

[laughter]

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Never apologize.

Kevin McHale: You can't get away from us.

Alison Stewart: Justin, in the show, you bring up spellers on stage. Sometimes they're people like, Annaleigh Ashford is my producer song. When I went, it was Four Normies on stage, but the kid could really spell.

Justin Cooley: Oh, yes.

Alison Stewart: Which was wild. Tell me who's come to the show, who's been on the stage being a speller?

Justin Cooley: Oh, my gosh. We've had so many great people. We had Daniel Radcliffe, which was amazing. He was so sweet. Who else have we had? The lady we had--

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Lin

Justin Cooley: We had Lin-Manuel, of course.

[laughter]

Justin Cooley: Oh, my gosh. The audience was crazy. Stephanie J. Block, Al Roker.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Yes, Al Roker.

Justin Cooley: See, everyone's helping me. There's been so many.

Alison Stewart: What do you do when you get a normie, though? We had four normal people on stage.

Justin Cooley: It's honestly a lot of fun. I think they seem a little bit more shaken. They don't know how to do the thing on stage, so it's really fun. I love talking to them in character, and they're like, "Who are you?" It's so fun.

Kevin McHale: I will say the producers do a very good job, I think, protecting that, where, like, it is really fun to have famous people, and celebrities come do it, but there's actually sort of like, they don't want that all the time. It is about, anybody can come to the show and sign up in the lobby before, and have a chance to be on stage, [chuckles] and make their off Broadway debut.

[laughter]

Justin Cooley: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Let's hear our last song. What are we going to hear?

Kevin McHale: Oh, Good Old Magic Foot.

Alison Stewart: All right, explain this for folks who haven't seen the show.

Kevin McHale: A lot of the kids have their own special way of spelling, and my character William Barfée's unique way to spell is to spell with his foot. This whole song is about that, and celebrating his love of his very talented foot, [chuckles] this magic foot.

[MUSIC - Good Old Magic Foot: Spelling Bee]

Magic foot, take me to the final round

Magic foot, barely lift it off the ground.

Magic foot

Do it without making a sound Shh.

Magic foot.

Write the letter

Magic foot magic foot

Write the perfect letter

Magic foot.

It's an alphabet way to spell.

Okay, let's see what you got here, Foot.

H-A-S-E-N, Hasen

P-F-E-F-F, Pfeff.

E-R, let's go.

Magic foot.

Be specific.

Magic foot.

It's horrific if you're not specific.

Magic foot.

It's terrific when you make a word with your foot.

Magic foot. Magic foot. Magic foot. Magic foot, foot.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Don't go kaput. Foot.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Write the goddamn letter.

Magic foot.

It's an alphabet way to spell.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Write that letter.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Write that stupid letter.

Magic foot.

Magic foot. Magic foot.

It's an alphabet way to spell.

Magic foot.

Magic foot.

Magic word.

Foot.

Alison Stewart: I have to read you this text before we go. This text says, "I loved being in the audience. I don't usually go to musicals, but this show revitalized my heart for participating. Spelling Bee ignites the heart of a child in all of us. The audience roots for each character, so we are immediately connected. The musicians and performers have a magnetism that embraces us all."

Kevin McHale: That is beautiful.

Alison Stewart: That's from one of our listeners.

Kevin McHale: That is exactly how we feel doing the show, and it's exactly why we do the show, and want everybody to come see it. That is the best review possible.

Alison Stewart: We have been with the cast of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Thank you so much for being with us.

Kevin McHale: Thank you for having me.

Leana Rae Concepcion: Really fun.

Jasmine Amy Rogers: Than you so much.