Merry Christmas to me

Defying Gravity

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Why can’t I resist myself from watching this play three times?!

5 things.

Number 1. It is fun (yep! It’s comedy). I hate spelling. But this spelling competition is one of the most – not boring spelling bee ever. I love the humor and the way they were delivered. Super laugh trip. I swear even during my third time.

I love the way Ms Peretti and Vice Principal Panch describe the guest spellers...

Vice Principal Panch (calling a guest speller who is wearing a flat shoes with sequins): Ms. XXX

Ms Peretti (giving a description about the speller): Ms XXX’s shoes is made of a disco ball

(Okray to the max!)

…and how they use the word in a sentence.

Vice Principal Panch: Ms. XXX, your word is BINGO.

Ms. XXX: can you please use that in a sentence?

Vice Principal Panch: (covering his mouth) mmp- mmp- mmp- mmp- mmp- and BINGO was his name oh.

Number 2. Despite the touch of humor, the play did not totally disregard its deeper message.

For me, the play is to show the issues usually faced by students at school and at home which carves the way they behave during the bee.

Each speller represent one issue:

Chip Tolentino represents PUBERTY ISSUE. During the play he got an erection because of Leaf’s sister. And because of this, he was distracted and spelled the word wrong.

Leaf Coneybear has been labeled by his family a not-that-smart kid. For him, he’s not good at spelling but he loves spelling. And during his turn at the bee, he somehow like undergo a state of trans (like possessed by some spirits) to spell the word correctly.

Loganne Schwartzangrubenierre (whew!) was indoctrinated by her two gay dads that nobody wants losers, even God. So imagine how super duper uber the pressure on her when she spells a word. Her mistake is overcomplicating V-U-G and spelled it like V-H-U-G-U-E (something like that).

Marcy Park lives up to the expectation of being always a winner in all aspects. In her case, no one is pressuring her but herself. She thought, winning all the time is cool and will make her happy. But no. After her conversation with Jesus, she intentionally misspelled C-A-M-O-U-F-L-A-G-E like C-A-M-O-U-F-L-A-J-Z-H.

Olive Ovstrtrovsky suffers from busy parents. Her mom was in India and her dad was busy at work. And because she spent most of her time with her dictionary at home, she placed 1^st runner up.

William Barfee is genius. Loves to study that he has forgotten on how to make friends. But at the end, he fall in love with Olive (which by the way, when the two vowels of which is reversed, it becomes ILOVE).

Number 3. Can I just say that I also super love the soundtrack of this play? The soundtrack qualify into my “Happy Songs Playlist”. The songs are comical and fun, not that type of serious classical songs of musicals. And like #2, despite the comical and fun touch, the deeper message is still there.

Listen here (http://papafotocopy.multiply.com/music/item/222/25th_Annual_Putnam_County_Spelling_Bee).

Number 4. Another reason why this play is not dragging is that it engages the audience such that the whole theatre is like a big production itself. It usually acquires guest spellers from the audience (one of them must be a celebrity) and treats the audience like the real audience of the bee.

The first time I saw the play the celebrity guest speller is Wency Cornejo. The second time is Geneva Cruz. The last time is Nikki Valdez.

During the Geneva Cruz Show…

Vice-Principal Panch: Ms Cruz, please spell PARADISE.

Geneva: Can you please use that in a sentence?

Vice-Principal Panch: Paradise, help me make a stand, Paradise, take me by the hand, Paradise, make the world understand

And during my third show, I even witnessed Joel Trinidad’s (Vice-Principal Panch) on-stage wedding proposal to her girlfriend right after the play, seen by everyone. It is super romantic. Congratulations to both of you guys!

Number 5. I learned a lot new words. Words that I’ve never heard before and never thought I will hear in the future.

Wampumpeag – a primitive currency coin

Crepuscule – twilight

Boanthropy - the delusion that one is an ox

Hasenpfeffer - a stew of marinated rabbit meat garnished usually with sour cream

And a family of South American rodent namely, Accouchi, Chinchilla and Capybara.

Basta! The entire production is just soooo hilarious!