25th Annual Spelling Bee last night - long and spolierish

[LYNX71]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:37pm

(keep waiting for someone to write about this and since no one else will...)

Went to the first preview of William Finn's new show last night.
Sign outside said it was supposed to be 1 hour, 50 minutes with a 10-minute
intermission (bathroom break, as it was called in the show) which ended up ending at 9:20 after starting just after 7pm.

Lots of fun - very full house. The last row seemed to be filled with assistants and
production people and William Finn himself. The songs were on a separate printout from the Playbill and the break wasn't listed yet.

All of the actors were great. Three of them - Dan Folger (hysterical as William Barfee, who can only spell the words after writing them out with his "magic" feet), Jay Reiss (asst. principal and the reader of the worlds and their definitions and sentence usage - a highlight of the show) and Sarah Saltzberg (the girl with 2 daddies who blasted the Bush Twins dresses in a brilliant improv that was so good, we had to ask at the Talkback segment after the show if it was planned or not - it wasn't) were three of the show creators from its original improv show from The Farm.

The other actors were great as well. There was the Comfort Counselor who was doing his probation and handed out juice boxes to the eliminated. The unfortunate contestant who lost because of his... erection. The girl who spoke 6 languages and was okay with losing. And Jesse Tyler Ferguson was great in two parts. The songs mostly worked (one song, Pandemonium felt cluttered and lost) and the very best part of the show was the 4 audience members brought on stage at the start of the show and became part of the show, quizzed on words (a little easier, but not by much) and were even dragged into a couple of production numbers. As they were eliminated, they were given their warm juice boxes and sung off of the stage. Again, we weren't sure if they were plants or actual audience and they were really paid customers. When the 4th and final audience member got his 3rd word right and they couldn't end the first act with him there, they dragged him right back to the mike again and gave him an impossible word - and he almost got it RIGHT! Once he lost and he had his juice box, the entire cast sang him off the stage and right to his seat, coming into the audience and wish him well.

The William Finn questions segment afterwards was informative and interesting. He talked about how he and James Lapine got involved in the show and how much was written and how much was improv-ed. Great, great, great show - see it now and hopefully it was transfer to another off-Broadway location as it is probably too small for a Broadway run.

Thanks

[apdarcey]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 12:46pm

thank you so much for writing about this... i've been waiting forever... can you talk more about the music? and you think it's too small for a bigger transfer? that's too bad but i certainly understand with the nature of the show... andrew

[sciguy]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:10pm

thanks for your review
I am seeing the show this Sunday and will post a review.
My understanding is that the audience members chosen are the real deal. I am trying to find out how they are chosen. I'm taking my son and daughetr and i thought it would be cool if i could get up onstage...plus I am a good speller.

How was the score?

[Plum]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 11:51pm

Saw it today. And darnit, I don't believe in reviewing shows before they open (especially based on only the second preview) but I'll say that overall...it's good. :)

And the score was very Finn, sciguy. Take that as you will.