Adolescent Overachievers Drive Adult Angst: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Opens at Bergen Community College

“The Spelling Bee,” written by Rachel Sheinkin, with music and lyrics by William Finn, is a hilarious tale of overachievers’ angst that chronicles the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship.

This story centers on six young people, in the throes of puberty, overseen by adults, who barely managed to escape childhood themselves. The students learn that winning is not everything and that losing does not necessarily make you a loser. The show’s Tony Award-winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of characters from whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time.