Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly twenty years since The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee opened on Broadway. It arrived during one of the best musical seasons of the 21st century seeing that it was up against Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Light in the Piazza, and Spamalot at the Tony Awards. In one of those rare splits, Spelling Bee’s Rachel Sheinkin won for Best Book, Adam Guettel took home Best Score for Piazza, and Spamalot garnered the big prize for Best Musical. I caught Spelling Bee while it was still in previews in 2005 and it was a thrill and a half to see it as the third and final revival in the Broadway Center Stage series at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This outstanding production proves that its nearly three year-run was no fluke. It’s as joyous and entertainingly funny as ever.