Kan yu spel theze wurds corectly?

Who knew that watching a kid standing behind a lectern, sweating bullets while spelling a difficult word l-e-t-t-e-r by painful l-e-t-t-e-r, could be so riveting?

The creators of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" knew. Besides running for nearly three years on Broadway, the musical won two Tony Awards in 2005.

The roadshow stops at Richmond's Landmark Theater on Tuesday and Wednesday and will run at Norfolk's Chrysler Hall from Friday through next Sunday.

Actually, Americans have perceived ("i" before "e" except after "c"!) spelling bees as high drama for some time. The mother of all spelling bees got its start in 1925.

The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., founded the United States National Spelling Bee; the winning word that first year was "gladiolus."

In 1941, Scripps Howard News Service assumed sponsorship and changed the name to Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

Sixty-seven years later, the competition is going strong - and is even televised - as the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Two Virginians have won, by the way: Daniel Greenblatt of Leesburg in 1984 (with "luge") and Amanda Goad of Richmond in 1992 with ("lyceum").

Broadway isn't the first entertainment entity to recognize the potential of a competition that on paper sounds hopelessly dull. Spelling bees have been featured in countless TV programs, from "Little House on the Prairie" to "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live."

And in 2003, the feature film "Spellbound," centering on eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps competition, was nominated for a best-documentary Academy Award.

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" is based on "C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E," an original play by a New York improv group, The Farm.

"Putnam County," with music and lyrics by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, opened off Broadway in February 2005 and hit the Great White Way in April.

The play features six pubescent spelling-bee contestants - from geek to genius - who learn that winning isn't everything. They also learn that losing doesn't necessarily (words that end in "y" must change to "i" before adding a suffix) make you a loser.

Add a few tunes, such as "I'm Not That Smart," "My Friend, the Dictionary" and "Woe Is Me," and you've got yourself a show.

"Putnam County" also is interactive. Before each show, four audience members - based on interviews and questionnaires (the sound "kw" is always spelled with the letters "qu") - are selected to appear onstage as guest spellers. If you're interested, be sure to arrive 30 to 45 minutes before the musical begins.

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee's" local appearance, as it happens, serves as an introduction to the real thing this year: 288 teens and preteens will compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29 and 30 in Washington.

The semifinals will air live (a final "v" in normal English words is always spelled "ve") on ESPN from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 30. The championships will air that evening from 8 to 10 on ABC.

Can you spell s-c-i-n-t-i-l-l-a-t-i-n-g?
Contact Cynthia McMullen at (804) 6496361 or cmcmullen@timesdispatch.com.