I just saw the show on Sunday (the 16th) for the first time and I think the Bee has become one of my new favorites! I did get to see Barrett, who I thought was fantastic (though I never saw Jesse against whom to make a comparison)... but as an overachieving Korean-American adoptee, Deborah's character and performance just won my heart. I got to talk to her after the show for quite a while and she is absolutely fantastic. They all were! I can't wait to go back again! =)
It was quite sad, there were some tears but it was a very strong show and a great audience, lots of energy. Saw Dan Fogler there, Ana Gasteyer, Max Von Essen, Kevin Cahoon.
Show was normal, just speeches at the end by James Lapine and Celia.
Woo! If you didn't read my review, I just got back from a my NY trip and I saw Spelling Bee on Wednesday... and got to be a speller! I won't retell the whole story, but I was just talking to a friend about it, and felt the need to say again how excited I was, and how amazing this show is.
As for Jesse, I'm blessed to have been next to him during his final shows. He offered me some of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I declined.
It was great as always. It was my first time seeing Barrett, and I like how he's playing the role. He certainly plays it more quiet than Jesse, and he just did a lot of small things that Jesse didn't do. Jose was on vacation this week so Maurice went on, and I actually liked him a lot. Kate was also on for Celia. I saw Kate as Logainne the last time I saw it, but didn't really like her. Tonight, I loved her as Olive. The entire rest of the cast was at the top of their game, as always.
There is also a new understudy that has joined the cast. His name is Kevin Smith Kirkwood, and he'll be covering Chip & Mitch. He was in the audience, but not in a seat. He had a seat cusion with him, and was sitting on the ground in front of one of the poles at the top of the theatre.
The cast is still one of the most personable casts I've ever met after the show. Deborah, especially, is one of the nicest people I've ever met.
I love how every night, they get to show how geeky and neurotic they can be by just performing and jumping and laughing and portraying 12-year olds. Sarah Saltzberg is a GENIUS at comedy. Everyone saw the "How Logainne Shwartzandgrubenierre gets ready for the bee" video, right? Hysterical. Search if you haven't.
"I'm thinking about how if you took the W in
answer, and the H in ghost, and the extra A in aardvark, and the T in listen, you could keep saying WHAT but no one would ever hear you because the whole word would be silent."
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I forgot to mention Sarah's rant last night. She said that the Bee was as surprising as Lance Bass coming out of the closet. She also said that Lance is very anti-Bush because A: He's gay. B: He's dating someone with a foreign name. C: He sings the song that Logainne will sing when Bush is out of office.
She then went on to sing and dance the first few lines of "Bye, Bye, Bye."
ha ha..I wish there was some compilation of all the Sarah/Logainne rants. I've been wondering in the last week whether or not she would bring up Mel Gibson.
I finally got to see the SF bee at the end of June. It was fabulous. So now I've seen Bee twice, once in NY and once in SF. What a fabulous show. The night we went it was really strange. Some lady in the audience was really drunk, and started talking really loudly. The ushers came and talked to her and she kept getting louder and louder. She said, "I'll make a scene, I'll make a scene." The cast finally had to stop for several minutes, and filled the silence in with lines like, "I didn't realize anyone would get so upset at a Spelling Bee." The whole ordeal lasted for over five minutes, and eventually the police got her out of there. The usher told us after the show that it took several policemen to get handcuffs on her and take her away. It was quite strange. It wrecked the show for awhile because it was so disturbing, but eventually we got mentally back into the show. The cast after the show kind of laughed it off like it happened every night, but I'm sure it was disturbing to them as well.
Love Love Love Love it!! I saw it in Chicago last month and it was the most hilarious show I have ever seen in my life. By far my favorite.
"I keep thinking about if you take the W in answer, and the H in ghost, and the extra A from aardvark, and the T from listen, you can keep saying WHAT but no one would ever hear you because the whole word would be silent."~Olive Ostrovsky- The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee