Have you been a "speller" at the 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee??

How many of you have been chosen to be in the show? I was chosen last week on my second time going to see it (I did'nt tell them that though). I was wondering how others enjoyed being up there. I thought it was really amazing being part of the show for a short time, and I really enjoyed my apple juice!

Updated On: 6/1/05 at 10:23 AM

I saw it on the evening of the 22nd of May. I was running late and didn't get the chance to sign up. Please do tell what you have to do and what they tell you to do.

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I was a speller when it was still off-Broadway.
A lady with a clipboard walks around and asks people if they are good spellers and if they say yes then she writes their name down and seat number.
Ten or so minutes before the show, they come and get the four people who they have chosen and take them backstage for their briefing.

The only things they tell you are:
1) Before you spell any word ask for the definition of the word and for them to use it in a sentence.
2) Follow what the actors onstage tell you to do.
3) Do not try to act in anyway because it undermines what the actual actors are doing.
4) Don't try to sing along with the songs.
5) DO try to dance to the dances.


I got my first word, Elephant, correct. (Good thing too because Michael Musto was in the audience and if I'd mispelled it I'd have been in his column as some retarded kid who cannot spell elephant), but then I lost on my second word, vingintillion (i spelled it vengintillion), got my apple juice and got sung off stage.

It's a lot of fun.

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Updated On: 6/1/05 at 12:23 PM

In the lobby before the show they have a desk and you sign up. If you are with a group of people, you are NOT an actor, and you seem cheery and fun they will pick you. Thats what they told us. I had to go up on stage aftewr the first number and I was given a number (2. Then the cast puts us on the benches next to them. My first word was Jihad....all the first words are easy except for one unlucky audience member. By the time the song Pandemonium come along there are 3 audience members of us left on stage out of the original 4 and they make us DANCE in the song!!! Its sooo fun cause they make you do this weird shake and wiggle dance then they make the 3 of you hold hands and jump up and down and spin around, and the cast walks away from you. Its so crazy. But your next word is hard....mine was Gardeyloo..I spelled it Gardyloo. I was the second one out but the 3rd and 4th are right behind. The cast memebrs aree SOOO nice on stage and they do interact with you alittle.

The fun part was in Pandemonium since you are dancing they have to wisper thigns to you like (sit down and hold on) when the benches start spinning. Tehy are amazing at moving us around liek sheep.

My advice to be picked is be one of the last people to interview....gfo to the desk at like 13 min to showtime, becasue they pick the 4 people at 10 min to showtime. That way you are fresh in their mind. Thats what I and another girl did and we were picked.

The show is still amazing even if you are not in it!!!!

I think the main thing is that they don't want you to "act" because it will distract from what the actual cast is doing
But it does sound like a lot of fun

fun! does the last audience member left get a special prize or anything?

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Thank you Icbanannie for your wonderful post, it gave me some more insight to the show, and I have been hysterically laughing for the past ten minutes while reading the thread and the news artical. Sounds like a really fun show!

Hm, silly question, but does it really make a difference if you're with a group of people or not, as far as being chosen to be a speller? Also, how much does age matter? Ha, I'm millions of miles from NY and never going to do this, but it's still very intriguing.

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Oh, I want to be a speller now!!!! Actually, I wish I could actually SEE the show. haha but being a speller sounds like a ton of fun!

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yeah, do you have to be older, i'm 15, but my 16th bday is in exactly 1 week and every year on my bday(but this year finals are on my bday, so it is when finals end) my parents take me to a show of my choice, and i chose Spelling Bee. That would be coolest bday ever to be picked!

to all those who got picked:you are REALLY lucky!

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the usually pick one older person and one kid. The other two people chosen are usually in their 20s or 30s. I know that they liek to have ak id if they can. There is no age limit (old or young) I don't think. I have seen some kids who are about 8-9 get up there.

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When i saw it they had an adult who apparently was some college spelling be champion or something, and he just kept getting the words right. So finally they gave him a really hard word, and his sentence was "Spell this word wrong please:_______". He was nice and spelled it wrong. :)

The pick 4 people, 2 men, 2 women. When I was a speller It was I (college female), a little girl about age 10, an older man aged around 47, and antother man in a suit age maybe 37. So age doe not matter really.

They want people with a group so that you have a built in cheering section. However, when I went the first time the girl who got picked lied and said she had her whole family with her, but she only had one friend. So I guess you can lie and they won't know.

And they do ask if you have been in a spelling bee before, I told them that I had but I had never come close to winning any of them and they picked me. I think that if you tell them you are a champ speller they wont pick you.


and finally, yes the show is ALWAYS different each night in some ways, but in others (which I won't give away) it is the same. Lets just say they make sure the the audience members get back to their seats before the end of the show.