Theatre Works' first show of their 30th season is "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" — a two-act musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin. Six quirky adolescents compete in a fictional spelling bee at Putnam Valley Middle School, overseen by three equally quirky adults. The children are in the throes of puberty; the grown-ups barely managed to escape childhood themselves. The kids learn that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't make you a loser. An unusual aspect: four real audience members are invited on stage to compete in the Bee alongside the six young characters. Director Paul Adam picks the best ten performers for these seventeen roles, and they are rewarded with a thunderous ovation at the close of the show.

Paul keeps the show fast-paced from start to finish, with clever comic bits throughout and real audience interaction woven into the fabric of the evening — including the first student eliminated selling refreshments and throwing candy into the crowd. Musical director Britney Lyn Dyer plays lead keyboards alongside Nathan Melo on second keyboard, drawing glorious harmonies from the cast. Mark Anderson designed a gymnasium set for the show, and the colorful comic costumes are by Sharon Charette. Karen Bessette DiOrio is the stage manager who keeps the cast on their toes all night long.

The three adults are marvelous. Connie Anderson as Rona Lisa Peretti steals many a scene — warm and sweet with the children but stern with Mr. Panch, who has a crush on her. Her lovely voice is heard in "Spelling Bee Rules" and "My Favorite Moment of the Bee." Frank O'Donnell is hilarious as Vice Principal Panch, returning after a five-year absence following an incident at the 20th Bee. His funny definitions and usage-in-a-sentence examples are laugh-out-loud moments. Michael Harrison is terrific as Mitch Mahoney, an ex-convict doing community service as the comfort counselor — his strong tenor soars in "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor." Connie and Michael also play Olive's parents in the most poignant song in the show, the stunning three-part "I Love You Song" with Nicole Cayer.

Nicole Cayer plays Olive Ostrovsky with a splendid soprano voice that soars in "My Friend, My Dictionary" and stops the show cold in "I Love You Song." Brian Lopes is excellent as Leaf Coneybear — hippie parents, homemade clothes, a blanket cape, and a helmet — who spells words correctly while in a spooky trance and finally realizes he is smart after all. Michael Campbell is marvelous as William Barfée, the bespectacled nerd with a magic foot, showing off a powerful voice in his showstopping number. Chris Margadonna is excellent as Chip Tolentino, delivering the show's funniest song — "Chip's Lament" — with a powerful tenor voice and perfect comic timing. Ashley Dougan is terrific as the lisping, neat-freak Logainne, and Jessica Aspeel is wonderful as over-achieving Marcy Park, who speaks six languages and attends "Our Lady of Intermittent Sorrows." Rounding out the cast is Kayla Ferruci as Marsha Park and, memorably, as Jesus.

So for a fun-filled contemporary musical, be sure to get to Woonsocket before the Bee is over.

Theatre Works' holiday show is "Ant'ny Claus 2: A Dysfunctional Family Sequel" — the world premiere of an original play by Frank O'Donnell. It's Christmas Day and the Claus household prepares for Ant'ny's triumphant return after finally taking over the reins of Santa's sleigh. One small problem: an accident on the way home has Ant'ny, Bruno the Elf, a talking reindeer named Bennie Blue Balls, and the crew bouncing off the rooftop of Don Robert Capobianco Sr., the most notorious man in New England. Hilarity and mayhem in typical North Providence style ensue as the Claus house is overtaken by special elves, family members, and some menacing good fellows. Written by Frank O'Donnell and co-directed by Frank and Mark Anderson, the show is infused with clever shtick and comic situations that keep the audience laughing all night long — earning a standing ovation for the hard-working cast.

Frank and Mark have 18 performers playing multiple roles, bringing out the best in each of them. The show is an Italian-American spin on Christmas, sketch-like in nature à la Saturday Night Live. Mark built the gorgeous kitchen set, and the holiday costumes are by Sharon Charette.

The biggest scene stealer is Connie Anderson as Carmella Sr. She has many terrific comic lines — insisting on staying to make Ant'ny her famous tomato potato frittata, making fun of her dumb blonde daughter-in-law, stealing pills including Viagra from a doctor, and delivering two act-closing scenes — one with a Johnston cop and one with the head hoodlum — that bring the house down.

Geoff White is splendid as Ant'ny, capturing the true essence of this curmudgeonly character who finally becomes Santa and screws up big time on the way home. His long-suffering wife Carmella is beautifully played by Bethany Lynn Giammarco, with priceless funny antics including a drunk scene at the start of the show. Padraig Mahoney as their son delivers clever comic one-liners and memorable malapropisms — including saying his mother is "inseminated" when she is inebriated. Daughter Holly is played splendidly by Hailey Carol O'Connor, a sophomore at RIC, who wants to tweet her friends constantly and flirts with the Johnston cop.

Other comic performers include John Morris as the giant elf Bruno, Laura Koehler as his long-lost girlfriend Elf Glo, Lynn Nadrowski as the talking reindeer Bennie Blue Balls, Roxanne Ladouceur as the overprotective reindeer mother, David Groccia as Francis Albert (named for Frank Sinatra), Sarah Blodgett as his dumb blonde wife Mickey, Bill Beatini as hoodlum boss Don Robert Capobianco Sr., Bobby Ricci as Robert Jr. and the cop, Karen DiOrio as the bimbo girlfriend, Michael Sheridan as the elf doctor (who is really a dentist), Brian Lopes as the manic elf Jack, and Mark Anderson as Ant'ny's hard-of-hearing father. Frank also arranged for surprise guest stars — on opening night, Steve Cascione from Channel 6. So for a marvelous alternative to "A Christmas Carol," be sure to catch Ant'ny Claus and get into the spirit of Christmas.

By Frank O'Donnell, Valley Breeze Entertainment Writer

WOONSOCKET - A lot has changed in the 15 years since Greg Bonin, Louise Tetreault and Mark Anderson first appeared in "The Sound of Music" with Theatre Works.

"I was 27 years old," said Bonin during a recent break in rehearsal for the show that opens March 22 at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket. Bonin will reprise his role as Captain Von Trapp. "I had to make myself look older, put a lot of gray in my hair. Not anymore."

Tetreault returns as Mother Abbess. "With age, you grow into the role," she said with a chuckle. "I have 17 years of motherhood under my belt now. I feel more confident with the maternal part of the role."

Anderson will finally get to play Max Detweiler, the role he wasn't able to play 15 years ago. "About halfway through the rehearsals," he recalls, "I was at work, and got a massive headache at the back of my head." He ended up in the ICU at Rhode Island Hospital with a brain aneurysm. "I was laid up for a month, so another actor took over. So I'm delighted to finally have the opportunity to play the role."

"The Sound of Music" is one of the best known musicals of the 20th century. "The movie is what drew me to musical theater to begin with," says Tetreault. Bonin calls it "his favorite show in the world."

Set in Austria just at the start of World War II, "The Sound of Music" tells the story of Maria, a young novitiate sent to serve as the nanny to the Von Trapp children. She falls in love with the children, and eventually with their widower father.

Having played the role before (twice, actually) Bonin's excited to play Von Trapp a bit differently. "I want to show his softer side. I always played him rough and tough. I don't want there to be as much of a stretch when he turns into a nice guy."

Each Maria has been different, and each, according to Bonin, "has different qualities." His first Maria was Sarah Martini, a student at Rhode Island College. His second was 16-year-old Emily Luther, who recently landed a recording contract with Ellen. This time, Laura Zabbo plays Maria opposite Bonin.

This is Tetreault's fourth time playing a nun. "I just finished up 'Sound of Music' at Theatre By The Sea." She played Sister Bertha, but understudied the part of Mother Abbess, so the music and lines were fresh in her mind. "I also played a nun in 'Does Patent Leather Really Reflect Up?' I haven't done 'Nunsense' yet, but it's on my list."

In addition to playing Max, Anderson is also building the sets. "The requirements are much bigger because of the size of the Stadium's stage. We've got 10 different locations, and we've got to make our scene changes seamless." They will use curtains to mask set changes, so everything has to be done on the fly.

Bonin, Tetreault, Anderson and the whole cast and crew are excited to present the show. "'Sound of Music' is a timeless piece of musical theater," says Tetreault, "a timeless story."

Theatre Works presents "The Sound of Music" at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket on March 22, 23 and 24, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $19. Call 401-762-4545 or visit the Stadium Theatre website.

By Frank O'Donnell, Valley Breeze Entertainment Writer

WOONSOCKET - Lynn Nadrowski has a bout with sleeplessness to thank for her directorial debut at Woonsocket's Theatre Works. "Last summer, I couldn't sleep one night and ended up watching Turner Classic Movies," she said in a recent interview. "I happened to see 'My Sister Eileen' with Rosalind Russell. At 2 o'clock in the morning, it seemed hilarious to me, and I thought this would be so much fun to direct."

"We chose the director first," says Mark Anderson, president of Theatre Works. "She chose the show, and we said that sounds good. A good old-fashioned comedy."

"My Sister Eileen" was first produced in 1940, based on a series of autobiographical short stories written by Ruth McKenney about the exploits of two sisters from Ohio trying to make their respective ways in New York City respectively as a writer and an actress.

Directing this show has been interesting for Nadrowski, who spent years working with youth theater. "The nice thing is how I was able to cast some actors in this show that I directed when they first started in theater." She points to Corrie Ignani and Kayla O'Donnell, both of whom worked in productions at the Wanskuck Boys & Girls Club. Ignani is playing the title role of Eileen. O'Donnell plays the upstairs neighbor, Helen.

And then there's Laura Koehler, who plays Eileen's sister Ruth. "I worked with her on 'Ant'ny Claus 2,'" says Nadrowski, who'd known Koehler in the Boys Club days. "Here was this young girl who I knew from my old days, and just out of the blue, she shows up again in our lives, and she's doing a fabulous job."

Koehler's role covers 76 of 86 pages from the script. That's a lot of stage time. "Learning the lines was definitely a challenge in such a short period of time," says Koehler. "I'm treating it like a college course, working out who the character is now that I've got the words down."

In youth theater, "you direct with an eye on teaching and imparting the whole performing arts process with them," says Nadrowski. "With adults, you're thinking about directing them to the best advantage."

The approach is different with adults. "In some ways, the kids are not afraid to be goofy. Exuberance comes through naturally. With some of the adult actors, you really need to pull it out of them. They're not really sure how far they can go with something."

In addition to playing three roles in the show - a street vendor, a sailor and Ruth and Eileen's father - Anderson has also designed and built the show's set. "It's a two level set," says Anderson, "which is hard to do because we only have 11-foot ceilings on our stage. It made it so I could only raise the platform five feet for this show."

The platform is the street level outside the girls' basement apartment. "The platform was too difficult to build. I had to put steps on both sides, and accommodate for a back door, front door, a bathroom that's also a dressing room." There's also a special surprise built into the set - but you have to see the show to know what it is.

When we chatted, "My Sister Eileen" was heading into its tech week. "It's a very wordy production," says Nadrowski. "Our actors are mostly off-book now, so now we have to put in the details. Sound effects are very important in this show, and I'm confident everything's going to work out just right."

Theatre Works presents "My Sister Eileen," on stage inside the Masonic Temple on Clinton Street in Woonsocket on Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4, at 8 p.m.; Friday, May 10, at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, May 11, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. For reservations, call 401-766-1898.

Editor's note: Frank O'Donnell is a cast member in "My Sister Eileen," and is the father of Kayla O'Donnell.