Spelling Bee love!- Page 22

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 6:20pm

Glad you won the lotto! I was too tired and in bed at 8 last night, otherwise I would have been there. Any good audience descriptions or new words?

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 6:24pm

They just played the song on BWW radio. I sat and really listened to all the lyrics carefully. (I'm sure you have all done this much more than me, so please forgive any of my comments if they are just way too obvious - I'm kind of thinking "out loud" here.) (I think I need to see them written down.) I agree, it's definitely a fantasy based on the initial setup of the song. Not just the lyrics, but the musical structure of the song at that point (after, "who will be my chaperone") reminds me of one of those dream sequences in a movie. At one point, her mom "says" something to the effect of if you are depressed blame it on me, then blame it on both mommy and daddy, because depression runs in our family. Now, even though this is a fantasy, that line is delivered like something that her mom has said to her before. So maybe her mom is depressed. Or maybe in Olive's fantasy world, her view of mom is of a depressed woman. As a kid, it would be easier to take your mom's inattention to your needs if you believed she was depressed. If she isn't depressed, then she just doesn't want to be involved with me, and that's a lot more difficult to deal with. Wow, what a great song! I wonder if William Finn has any idea that all of us here are examining his songs so carefully.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 6:26pm

I'll let them all know next time I'm at the show, maybe they will come join the board to join in the discussion :)

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 6:51pm

that would be so cool! Do any of them even know about BWW?

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 6:53pm

Okay Guys.... On the depression issue... After thinking about it, if one is one a spiritual quest it is because they are searching for something to give meaning to their life. So, certainly Mrs. Ostrofsky (Olive's mom)could feel unfulfilled and depressed.
I do not think though as DRG mentioned that she is hopitalized for this condition.
Also--Liotte mentioned that touching moment when Olive's mother smooths back her hair during the I Love You Song.. Do you realize that Miss Rhona does it as well, during the flaggelate scene and thus takes on the role of her surrogate mom at The Bee.
And to think some people initially dismissed this show as a SNL sketch.
This is why people need to return to The Bee on a regular basis!

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:01pm

I had never thought about it, that Rona smoothes her hair back too when teaching her how to "stand like a champion". I like that surrogate mother thought.

Jud, I'm sure most of the cast know the board is here, but the only one I've heard admit to reading it (and using it as part of another broadway caberet event) is Jesse.

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:02pm

Wow, that's a neat image of Rona playing Olive's surrogate mom. And doesn't Panch give her the $25, so sort of playing her surrogate dad? So does Olive imagine her mom to be depressed to make it easier to handle the inattention, or is her mom really depressed? And yes, I need to see the show again.

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:07pm

Liotte,
This just occurred to me---Maybe Vice Principal Panche takes on role of surrogate dad--by finding a way to get the registration fee to her --since her dad has not shown up at that point...

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:09pm

Jud,
I cannot believe we came to the same conclusion about Panch.

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:16pm

Perhaps the comment during song of" blame it on your dadaly and momaly--depression runs in the family(may not be exact wording)--is also a reference to Olive's own sadness....

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:20pm

CL, I know, that's pretty funny. I think we must have been typing at the same time. I read your comments about Rona being her surrogate mom, and that spurred my thought about Panch. And then I read your thoughts on Panch after I posted mine, and I'm thinking, had she just read mine? But I figured that you probably hadn't read mine, you had just had the same thought. Kind of cool.
About Olive's sadness, yes, maybe her fantasy of her mom is that her mom must be sad because Olive herself is sad. That's yet another interpretation. I like that too. This is pretty deep.

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:25pm

Thank you for elevating the discussion about this show. I really think it is very deep.
Keep your questions and insights coming.
Oh I do, however believe that the Comfort Counselor is the ultimate parental figure...

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:53pm

Hmm, new interesting thoughts! I will be looking at the show in a different way next time I go!

[brad3]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:56pm

I thought the show was hard to sit through.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:58pm

How so?

[Creative Lunatic]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:58pm

Brad--that's because you haven't sat through it enough...this board is to express our love for the show--not negativity...

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:01pm

You're welcome. That's one of the things I like about this thread so much. Many of the other threads I have read don't seem to be as interesting or thought provoking as this one. That's why most of my posts are here (I suspect most of your posts are here too) and this is always the first board I check when I log on. I also think that the frequent posters on this thread seem to have such interesting thoughts about this show. I'm kind of curious what other shows you all love as well. Perhaps, like me, you really like shows that deal with the human condition. For example, I love Ragtime, and Once on This Island. One of the things I really like about Broadway shows in general is their amazing ability to touch our souls. (The same thing I like about novels.) Music is very important to the soul and to life. I'm not saying that very well, but I feel it down deep. I'm always singing a song from some show. I constantly listen to cast recordings that I own, or to BWW radio (or accuradio.com Broadway, which is another great website for broadway radio). I love Broadway music, so even if a show isn't that good, I will listen to the soundtrack if the music is good. I listen to a lot of shows I have never even seen, so I don't know if the show is any good - like Amour, Sweet Smell of Success, and a host of others. Spelling Bee happens to be one of those shows that has a great story, great message, and I believe great music. Since I don't own the soundtrack yet (only because I haven't gotten around to it) I'm only remembering the music from seeing the show and what I've heard on the web.
Kind of a long post, and I got interrupted by a phone call in the middle of it, so I kind of lost my train of thought.

[brad3]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:04pm

First of all, between the annoying squeeky voices "25th anual blah blah blah" thts the first thing the opening number was painful. The Cast was okay..??? And the music was very weak. No offence =)

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:07pm

Jud- just a suggestion- if you enjoy Broadway music so much and are planning on buying the CDs, you should start calling them cast recordings, not soundtracks. :)

I think that we could delve into each character in the Bee and come up with interesting discussions about their lives- Logainne and her 2 fathers/political views, Leaf being the "dumb kid" in his family, Barfee and his fake mom thinking he is weird, Marcy's extremely high standards and having to live up to expectations, Chip's adolescence and realizing that he may not be as in control in his life as he wants to be, etc.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:18pm

On the discussion of fantasy in The I Love You Song, I also believe that an element of the song is supposed to be fantasy and that is what the whole wildly fancifull, highly unrealistic thing is showing. However I dont think that the fanatasy element is her mothers depression, but rather the fact that her parents are telling her how much they love her. I think Olive is a girl who is clearly neglected by both of her parents and her dream is for them to love her fully and unconditionally and always be there for her, thus the fact that they are professing how much they love her is the fantasy in the song. Those are my thoughts...

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:18pm

Did I really call them soundtracks? Ouch, I did. Oops. I started typing soundtrack in a previous post, and then thought wait, it's cast recording. I guess I missed it here. Soundtrack is so much easier to type though. :) Maybe that's why so many people type CR in their posts. Or OCR.
I agree, we could delve into all of these characters a lot. They are so real, even though they are all a little eccentric, they all have issues that are common. About ten pages of posts on this board ago, I mentioned that our love for this show and for Broadway in general makes us understand what these characters are going through, because many people don't understand how wonderful Broadway shows are.

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:20pm

So DRG, you think that no part of their love for her in that song is real? That they don't love her, or they just don't show it? Either could make sense, I was just wondering.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:23pm

DRG, I like that too, Olive imagining that her parents love her when in fact, they don't have time for her. I do like this discussion!

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:24pm

I would say that they have forgotten her. I am not sure if they dont love her, but they certainly dont show it anymore. But the forgotten element I think is deffinetly driven home in the show, with her dad not showing up to the bee and her saying that she silently packed to go to Bombay with her mom but was never invited. Olive just wants an attentive parent who is there for her.

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:28pm

How horrible, to forget you have a child. Which reminds me, I better go home and see mine! I wish you all a good night, and I look forward to further thoughts on this topic tomorrow.