hbputnam

Hannah Byars THEA2100H Dr. Richmond 16 November, 2010 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Five Positives:
 * 1) The choreography was done very well. Dr. Wheeler’s ballroom influences came out in the well done waltzing at one point, but even aside from that the entire casts’ dancing and choreographed movements were well done and natural for the piece. The waltz, as aforementioned, stood out when Olive Ostrovsky was dancing with William Barfee near the end. It was significant because it showed both of their characters. They were both awkward at the form, but did the steps correctly. Then, when it turned to ballet, easily recognizable moves were done, that anyone who had ever seen a ballet could point out and realize what they were supposed to look like, but still there was an element of ineptitude and lack of gracefulness, which was telling of their socially awkward characters. The rest of the choreography was equally as appropriate. The choreographed movements of the while crew seemed well-rehearsed and not overdone, so that they could appear natural.


 * 1) Another thing I liked was the way that the character of Mitch Mahoney was portrayed. It seemed as if his character was heavily expounded upon, in that Dixon, who played Mitch, took much more than was actually in the script. The bumblebee costume coupled with his disgruntled looks was one of the most entertaining parts of the play. His “gansta” persona was also very nice comic relief. This also contrasted with his bumblebee costume and made the entire situation more humorous.


 * 1) Another part of the play that made it a comedic success was the readings of the definitions of the words and the sentences that the words were used in. Rather than mere dictionary definitions, creative and usually funny definitions were used, and they relied on modern-day jokes as well. For example, the definition of Mexican as relayed by the spelling bee personnel was, “A slang term used by Americans to identify anyone of Central American decent.” This is a modern joke because a pressing problem is border control of Mexico and the illegal Mexican immigrants.


 * 1) This leads me into another good part of the play: the times in the play where modern joke plugs could be made. It is a good playwright method, especially in a comedy. Jokes that people can relate to are always more funny than ones that they cannot, so it was a good move on the playwright’s part to leave them in there.


 * 1) The audience participation was a good touch. It was at first a little odd to have random people on stage who did not know what they were doing, but later on it added a bit of suspense and audience participation as they rooted for their fellow audience members to spell the words correctly.

Negatives:


 * 1) The fact that there was no intermission was bad for the play. Several audience members were losing interest and shifting in their seats towards the end. Some of them confessed to have almost fallen asleep at points. If there had been an intermission it would have served as a wake-up for audiences and a way to keep paying attention and to keep enjoying the play to the fullest extent.


 * 1) Another thing that was a major flaw in the play in general is the entire lack of story. There was a very very short story that could have been done in about a 30 minute play, but it was dragged out for so long that what little of a story there actually was, the audience got bored with. This is a flaw with the scrip writing rather than the actual production of it, but it is still very essential to the audience’s perception of their enjoyment of the play. Even despite the occasional witty comment, there was not a storyline that was able to be worked with. Perhaps even a change in rooms would have added to the play’s body, or just some more to the story would have made it worth watching.


 * 1) The costumes were inappropriate for the play. It seemed as if by using these costumes that they were trying too much to seem younger than they were. They didn’t make sense for their characters. For example, Marcy’s costume was ridiculously overdone in the flashy colors and the raggedy, unmatched look. It did not show anything besides that she was just trying too hard to look her part, and in the end gave the play a feel of general unprofessionalism.


 * 1) The acting in the play was less than exemplary. The actors were supposed to be children, but they were trying way too hard at it. They seemed to be coming in and out of character. They had squeaky voices, but at other times, when being emotional especially, they changed back to adults in kids’ costumes. Especially when the parents came into play, the kid characters would change back into reacting emotionally like the adults who were playing them. Even if their words were childish, their movements, voice inflections, and facial expressions were all very adult-like and therefore showed second-rate acting.


 * 1) The music seemed rather misplaced and given half-effort when written, perhaps as a last minute thought. None of the songs were catchy or fun, which would have been good to be in a comedy. In fact, none of the songs were even memorable. At some points in the play it seemed as if the music actually hindered the telling of the story. It would be a logical guess, seeing the lack of story and the awkward, bad songs, to guess that it was originally not a musical, but the music was added at the last minute because the play was not long enough to be worth producing. The music lacked quality to an intense degree, and it was not fitting for the play. Perhaps the play might have been a decent production without it.