Little Falls used to be a popular place for summer musicals. After a decade of absence, Little Falls now has a summer musical called “The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” that will be performed at the newly renovated Charles D. Martin Auditorium.

“Before there were the Upstage Players here and I was very young so I don’t remember a lot about it, and they were very popular and did a lot of musicals here at the Charles D. Martin [Auditorium], I think in 2007 or 2008 they stopped,” said Co-Director Lucas Burr. (Edit: The Upstage Players are still currently performing, it is actually the Hole in the Day Players who Lucas Burr was referring to.)

“Last year I had seen ‘The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ done in St. Cloud and I just thought it was a great show,” said Burr.

“This production is pretty much what the name says, it’s just a spelling bee and throughout the spelling bee we just get to see all the different characters and their moments and their back stories and how they interact with one another and how they grow throughout the spelling bee,” said actress Corinna Brose.

“There is really a lot of talent here, there is a lot of people who have been in the arts before and there really is a lot of people who are pursuing their degrees,” said Co-Director Michael Kalpakoff.

One aspect of this musical that makes it so unique is the fact that audience members actually get to come up on stage during the performance.

“It’s really fun because when people go they might end up on stage with us and it definitely is sort of nerve-wracking because a lot more of the show than you realize is actually improv,” said Brose.

With the amount of time the 11-person cast has put in, they have become quite a tight-knit group.

“It is really fun to get to know everyone and since it’s community theater, it’s just not people you go to school with, so you just know everyone on a different level,” said actress Kylie Pohlman.

“It’s comedy, so we all get to be really crazy, ridiculous, characters and I’m really close friends with the entire cast,” said Brose.

“There’s a whole lot of lessons you learn and times you get to laugh, times you get to cry. There’s definitely those,” said actress Emma Halin.

“The music is awesome and our cast is awesome and it’s just a great show and it’s going to be a lot of fun, so everybody should come out and see this show,” said Burr.

The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will have shows at the Charles D. Martin Auditorium from Thursday to Saturday. Tickets can be bought online at https://m.bpt.me/event/4268859.

By — Chaz Mootz