ABSPELLINGBEE

Andrea Beltran  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee  The University of Georgia presented The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in November as this year's musical. It was a roaring success and was received with open arms by viewers for many reasons. 1) // You are each unique. //One of the most noticeable aspects of the show that appealed to me was how each actor took their character and gave them very individual personalities and traits. Through facial expressions, body movement, and voice I was able to get a sense of who each of the people in the Spelling Bee were. It became easy to feel for Logainne when her fathers wouldn’t hug her, or to pity William when Chip called him fat. Each of the characters was very unique and I applaud the actors for accomplishing this. 2) // Improv the night away. //What marveled me to a great extent was the ability of the actors to simply come up with lines on the spot. While I’m sure they entertained ideas of what they could say, much of the show came down to how they reacted in one instance. So much of the comedy of the show came from what I must say was brilliant improvisation. I, along with the rest of the audience, could not stop laughing. The actor’s interactions with the audience members on stage was particularly fascinating since that’s something you cannot rehearse very much because you never know what different people are going to be like. 3) // Set design and lighting. //The set of the musical was pretty simple and there were not any scene changes which could be worrisome if a set is boring. Spelling Bee did not have this problem because there was just enough movement to keep the audience engaged. The scenes in which black Jesus appears and when Olive’s mother appeared from India are good examples of when there were slight changes in the scene that fit into the show very nicely. Also, the choice to have the orchestra on the stage was a pleasant touch because it kept the background lively. The mood lighting in the show was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Olive’s mother was in India and the lights created a nice wave effect on the background, then when Olive, her mother, and her father sang “The I Love You Song” the lighting was very dim and focused on the three which set the mood very nicely. 4) // "My Unfortunate Erection" //Basically, this song really stood out in the show. It was a very lively song in which Chip moved throughout the aisles and threw a multitude of candy into the audience. He put on a very engaging show that left the entire audience breathless in laughter and awe. While he missed a few notes at the end, the actor playing Chip had the audience too fascinated for them to even care. 5) // What did you just hit? //The display of vocal talent in the show was phenomenal. I was mainly impressed by the female casting and I came to see why the musical auditions are so competitive. The actresses that played Rona, Logainne, and Olive had such clear voices that flew up into perfectly high pitches like it was nobody’s business. Their singing just looked so effortless and profession that I couldn’t help be listen to every note that came out of their mouths. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was a very wonderful performance and it was difficult to find aspects that were wrong with it but there are always little things that could use some improvement. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1) //Get that light out of my eyeball//. While I've established that the set and lighting was brilliant, there was one aspect of the lights that continuously bothered me. On more than one occasion, it seemed that the lights would swing back towards the audience. While I'm not sure what the lighting technician was attempting to achieve with this, I know that it produced an obnoxious glare into my eyes that would cause me to have to close my eyes for a second. It seems rather unnecessary to have to take the light away from the stage and therefore cause discomfort to any unfortunate viewers. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> 2) //Hello, awkward audience member//. I was on the fence about the whole thing with putting audience members into the Spelling Bee because they are obviously not actors. Four audience members ended up on the stage and each had to spell usually simplistic words or they were given very difficult words in order to get rid of them when they intended. By the middle of the show with these audience member characters it became clear to me that, while it’s not a bad idea, there should be a selection process to make sure that the selected members are not awkward. While three of the four audience members placed on the stage were acceptable and just went with the flow of the show, the fourth member, an older man, decided to insert commentary when he was addressed. Awkward proceeded and the audience gave little nervous chuckles. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> 3) // Yes, I can see you’re nervous. //On the particular night that I attended the show, Chip was played by the understudy. I was interested to see how I would react to this little detail. As it happens, Chip is the first speller to enter into the scene. While it did not last the entire show, I could tell that the actor was nervous at the beginning which is something that should not be perceived by any audience members. It is up to the actors to find ways to make themselves appear confident even when they are shaking in their boots. Some of Chip’s first few songs also had a nervous timber until he got more confident with being on the stage. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4) // Out of your range? //While I applaud the amazing voices that appeared in this show, it was clear to even me that some of the actors were singing out of their range. I mainly noticed this in the characters of Mitch, Barfée, and Chip. The actors playing all three of these guys seemed to have a lower range than the characters they were portraying. During “The I Love You Song”, Mitch’s voice was barely heard over the two females because he could not sing as strongly as they could sing. Each of the characters had moments in which their character was privileged to hold out a beautiful note. The actor playing Barfée held his note for a moment but then backed out of it which was disappointing. As stated before, Chip did not hit the last few notes in “My Unfortunate Erection” very well. This one is more understandable because an understudy must have a range that incorporates all the parts even though they may not be as strong all in the entire range. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5) // My eardrums just screamed in pain. // Luckily, the microphone problems did not last very long, but they lasted long enough to screech into my eardrums multiple times and distract me during the first few songs. It sounded like the mics on the actors were coming through a tunnel and the sound technician was trying to fix this during the show. Having worked on sound before this really should have been an issue that was resolved before the show started and not during it.