Does 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' work as a film?

The original company of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Joan Marcus)

Recently, Disney acquired the rights to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinki. I love this show and I love Disney -- but honestly, when I read the announcement, I immediately groaned.

It’s not that a musical can’t ever translate well on screen. Grease, Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Annie, West Side Story, Hello Dolly! – these worked. Whether they worked well is a matter of opinion, but at the very least, the integrity of the piece was maintained. In cases like these, the switch in medium makes sense and serves an artistic purpose.

For Spelling Bee, it has the potential to do the opposite.

First, I fear that the premise of the show – breaking the fourth wall and inviting the audience to actually attend the bee -- will inevitably be lost in a film adaptation. This script relies on audience members as spellers and spelling bee spectators. Lines are improvised based on the personal details of those who attend. At the director’s discretion, ad-libbing moves the story along and creates a new experience for every performance.

One could even argue that this is the point of the show – that even the most ordinary, boring, seemingly silly events can tell profound stories. While some stage productions offer a steadfast script that translates well to the screen, Spelling Bee is not one of them. It is a living, breathing entity, and without a stage and live players, I do not believe that it can remain lively and loyal to its purpose.

Another running gag of Spelling Bee is hyper-reality. The characters seamlessly switch from dreamlike sequences to the very stoic, ordinary setting, creating a humorous juxtaposition. The contrast can also be emotionally jarring, such as when Olive imagines Rona and Mitch, two adults assisting in the spelling bee, as her parents. It’s not impossible to re-imagine these scenes onscreen, but without the immersion of the spelling bee setting, I don’t see the contrast coming through as clearly.

Lastly, I worry that Disney will be inept to handle Spelling Bee’s grown-up script and score. This production may be about children, but it is not for children. In fact, all actors, even the child characters, are traditionally played by adults. Somehow, it seems unlikely that a Disney film will feature lines such as “I’ve heard that she’s pro-choice but still a virgin” or stage an entire musical number entitled “My Unfortunate Erection.” Without moments like this, Spelling Bee will falter. It is the delicate balance between the heartfelt and the outrageous that makes these characters work.

Film and theatre do not always mesh. I have found that “Can we make this show a movie?” is often asked instead of “Should we make this show a movie?” Of course, that being said, I can’t totally knock it until I see it. I hope that the new Spelling Bee will surprise me and offer something new to the text. I hope that it will be cast well. And I hope that it will maintain the humor, the heart, and the spontaneity that made me fall in love with it. Only time will tell.