Jasmine Amy Rogers Leads With Vulnerability in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

“We were all children once,” says Jasmine Amy Rogers, who plays the sensitive and preternaturally talented preteen Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. “It's a huge part of our lives.”

Spelling Bee, now playing off-Broadway at New World Stages, takes pains to theatricalize the charged period before adolescence, a quality that imbues the show with humor and heart. “Danny Mefford, our director, created such a safe space where we were able to play and dive deep. We talked a lot about our own childhoods,” says Rogers. “It's just about trusting that work and believing in ourselves and bringing that to the table. It can be a lot, but it's also healing in a way to do that every night.”

Speaking with Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens, Rogers discussed the vulnerability required to bring Olive to life, as well as how the production differs from her splashy Broadway debut. Last season, Rogers embodied Betty Boop in Boop!, which earned her a Tony nomination. While Boop! had Rogers at the center of a bells-and-whistles spectacle, Spelling Bee finds her working in service of a nine-person ensemble. “In this show, I'm sharing space with all of these incredible actors and it's a story about every single one of us. Some people think it's a step back. They may see it that way, but when you look at the work that we're all actually doing, I don't see it as that. I see it as this charge forward in my career of doing good, honest work. That's all I want to do.”

As precocious speller Olive, Rogers is able to tap into her own experiences in competitive environments. In 2017, she was a finalist at the Jimmy Awards, the star-launching national competition for high school theater performers. “I was so nervous,” shares Rogers, “I remember after I sang my solo, I walked off stage and I think my legs kind of gave out and I almost fell down the stairs in the back of the Minskoff. All the boys that were on that side of the stage caught me. It was very dramatic.”

Rogers spends much of her Spelling Bee stagetime alongside Kevin McHale, who plays the “Magic Foot”-possessing oddball William Morris Barfée. Speaking about the Glee star, Rogers has nothing but niceties to share. “Kevin is so amazing. He’s kind, he's gentle, he's hilarious. And he's so smart. I always love meeting people that you may look up to and you see them on the big screen, but they're just regular people. That's the coolest thing about him. He's very genuine.”

This iteration of Spelling Bee has had a handful of celebrity appearances during its run, with the likes of Daniel Radcliffe, Annaleigh Ashford and Stephanie J. Block being called on stage to test their spelling prowess. Since its beginnings as an improv piece in the early 2000s, Spelling Bee's clever inclusion of audience members has become integral to its legacy. “It does keep everything fresh every night and it's always exciting because you truly never know who you're gonna get up there,” says Rogers. “You're watching people have fun in a way that they may have never had before and be vulnerable with you up there, because we're asking them to go and stand in front of a microphone, which is something that a lot of them don't ever do.”

After Spelling Bee finishes its run on April 12, Rogers will get to work on the New York City Center Encores! production of The Wild Party. Penned by theater legends Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe, The Wild Party expands Joseph Moncure March’s narrative poem from the Roaring Twenties into an explosive musical drama. Rogers has been tapped to star as the titular party’s troubled hostess, Queenie. “She's a vaudeville performer who in our show will be a Black woman who is struggling with her identity and is trying to figure out who she is in this world. She’s been a vaudeville performer for so long, but she hasn't had the success she wishes.” Rogers intends to characterize her with the sensitivity that she brings to all her roles. “She’s just a woman who wants love and tenderness and care, but also has had a very rough life. We watch her deal with that and realize that maybe she is worthy of a softer life.” That said, Rogers is quick to add that Queenie “loves the debauchery. She lives for it. She lives for the attention.”

Reflecting on her whirlwind of a year, Rogers says, “I’m trying to carry the assuredness that I've found in myself and remind myself that I'm in the right place. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I was looking back over the past year and I was like, this was the best year I've ever had in my life. Not just because of the awards, but the people I've met, the experiences I've had. It's been unmatched. So I'm just going to carry that joy with me and know that I'm capable of amazing things, which is Betty Boop’s little motto. ‘You are capable of amazing things.’ I'll always carry that with me.”

Watch the full interview below!

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