The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

December 23, 2007 evening and January 29, 2008 evening

I had the opportunity to see two performances of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee over the past few months - a Sunday evening performance in New York City in December 2007 with the closing cast, as well the opening night performance of the current tour cast when it was in Toronto at the end of January 2008.

Although it runs without intermission, the Bee never drags and in fact, refers to its obvious 'manipulating' of time - speeding and slowing down the spellers at various times. Of all the musical theatre I've seen, Spelling Bee is probably a piece where I'd definitely urge against listening to the cast recording prior to attending a performance. Favourite songs? Probably "I speak six languages" since Marcy Park is the embodiment of so many Asian children as student-competitors -- the NY Marcy actually flipped her skirt to display the frilly pink panties that I'd almost believe were filched from the Galinda wardrobe (entirely possible since Gershwin and Circle in the Square theatres are side-by-side).

All in all, it's a fun evening out where the best spellers might not be crowned champion, but "everyone is a winner."

Ah, and Olive with transformed vowels spells I love...