The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is one of my favorite musicals.
I love the characters in this show. Child characters rarely feel like real kid personalities. I think this show does a great job at making believable characters with real kid problems and concerns. The characters aren't perfect and pretty. They are awkward, tight wound, extremely unsure, or overly confident. They try to fit a role, but don't always look it, which makes them wonderfully contrasting and interesting people. I tried playing with some of the kids: Marcy Park, Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, and William Barfee,