“What those nine freshmen did was remarkable. They wove their own dynamism within the stagnant memorized lines of the musical. It was this dynamism that was indicative of both their characters’ and their own transformations: the original goal of Lipson, now accomplished.”

“If ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ is a comedy, it never sacrificed character development for cheap humor.”

“‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ also had moments of poignancy and self-awareness. This made the play’s underlying messages of pressure, familial duty, and parental love strikingly relevant. ... But in this particular production, such serious themes were coupled with sparkling enthusiasm and engaging humor.”