Spelling Bee Review 10/29 Matinee

[ILoveWicked330]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 7:13pm

After walking around the dreadful Wicked Day, got a Student Rush ticket to Spelling Bee. Great seat- B 207. $25. Deffinitly worth it.

1st time seeing Barrett, Jessica & we had an understudy for Miss Peretti, Lucia Spina.

Barrett Foa- I saw him in Avenue Q so he was a good reason why I wanted to see the show. I was VERY disappointed by him. I didn't think he was good. He has a great voice but his part doesn't require much singing. I expected him to be very good & people posting reviews saying he was amazing, but I don't feel the same way.

Jessica-Snow Wilson- She was good. Not amazing, not bad. She looked very weird as Olive. Her acting was good but she just didn't perfectly fit the role. It's probably because I'm used to Celia.

Lucia Spina- horrible. sorry. but she was just plain horrible. She's clearly an alto & for Rona, you need a Soprano range. Her acting wasn't as good as Lisa Howards. In the beginning when she says the bit about cell phones, Lisa made it sound like we were at a spelling bee saying "don't take picts of your kids, blah". Lucia made it sound like we were at a Broadway show & she was telling the audience to turn off cell phones.

What really-REALLY bothered me- One of the audience spellers thought they were in the show & made their own character. He took his time spelling & purposely put a second or 2 rest inbetween every letter. Then Panch said "Spell *insert word here*" & the guy was like "Are you sure that word is even in the dictionary?" & he kept acting in the role & he shouldn't have been. Deborah kept trying to "control" him & calm him down. He spelt a word right & went back to the bench & he went to give Deborah a high five & she shook her head no.

During the improv, Sarah spoke about the election & halloween & kinda merged them together saying she was going to go around on November 7th as political people (she said their names, I forgot) & then she said something like "& I'm gonna go as the worst leader there is, Dick Cheney" (not exact words but something to insult him).

It was my 3rd time seeing the show & I think it lost its' fun. The 1st & 2nd time, I couldn't stop laughing the entire time. Today, I knew every joke & it just seemed boring.

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 7:17pm

I personally liked Barrett, but that probably was because I had no idea he was in it and I was like WOO HOO

I saw Jessica in Good Vibrations, and I was disappointed. she was flat most of the time in that, and when she was put in Spelling Bee I was disappointed. I saw Celia and was very happy about that. I can't imagine Jessica in this.

That sucks that the guy was like acting it out. If I was in it, I would be like, "Put me next to Barrett and I will shut up for the WHOLE thing." So next time.... :)

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 7:30pm

How were the rest of the performances? I really think Deborah is full of energy and a strong asset to the production. How did the performances of the cast compare to their previous performances you saw?

[ILoveWicked330]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 7:39pm

Deborah was full of lots of energy. She was absent the 2nd time & I saw her & the 1st time I saw her was in May of 05 so I don't really remember but today she was great.

Derrick was good but he seemed like he was alittle "bored" of his role.

Jose was good. He seemed like he was having a lot of fun with the role.

Josh Gad doesn't compare to Dan. He's improved since I saw him last but he isn't as good as Dan was.

Greg is the same. Haha I don't know. He's good.

[BroadwayRandy0711]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:18pm

I totally felt the same way about Barrett, and I absolutely love him. His acting was superb, and he really has made the character his own. His singing on the other hand was a little off, the second time I saw it. His voice cracked at the end of the second song that he sang. The name of it escapes me. The first time I saw it with him, he truly was awesome as Leaf.

[Amneris]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:23pm

has the new understudy catherine gone on yet?

[Broadway Baby4]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:37pm

Barrett was my absolute favorite when I saw the show a month ago, he had me laughing hysterically. Maybe because you guys already saw the show you didn't like it as much...

[mijofly19]

Posted: 10/29/06 at 10:47pm

Catharine went on as Marcy on Thursday night and was very good.

[Bal]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 12:47am

The main problem I had with Lucia is that she didn't make Rona... is this the right word?...earnest enough. For instance, Lisa Howard, on the 'crepescule' line, made the (admittedly silly) line sound absolutely beautiful, where Lucia's Rona made it clear she thought it was stupid. And Lucia, with the kids in the show, was very impatient and at times downright nasty with them, not sweet and caring. I was deeply disappointed in her performance as Rona (and I was a speller, so I really ought to be biased towards her, oughtn't I?)...

As for Barrett... my only problem with him was that he didn't sem to really understand the character. Like Leaf's hair-parting quirk... when he did it, he looked as if he was doing it because he was directed to, not becasuse he knew why he was doing it. Every second he was onstage, he either looked bored or lost. The audience still loved him, and I still liked bits he did, but I felt like he just...wasn't...trying hard enough.

Josh Gad talked too fast. i couldn't understand all of his lines.

My main problem with the show as it is now is that it has become a caricature. The replacements don't understand the innocence they should be playing and I feel like the OBC has grown bored and are playing with their parts a little bit (ala Steve Blanchard as the Beast)...I've seen the show three times, and it's one of my favourites, but when i saw it a couple of weeks ago, I too felt it had lost something.

And thanks for the review!

[Bwayfan4]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 4:19am

Oh my gosh I LOVED Barrett in this role! I saw it a month ago and couldn't stop laughing at him...whether he was singing or acting, I thought he was great!

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 10/30/06 at 5:01pm

I just saw it too, and I thought Barrett was great! I think I just LOVED him so much in Avenue Q, it was hard to love him as much.

I love Deborah too!