Spelling Bee spelling question

[sparrman]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:23pm

Saw the tour of Spelling Bee today, and really loved it. Hadn't seen the show before. The whole cast was great, but for me the standout was Lauren Worsham as Olive.

Anyway, my question: When there was only one audience member/speller left, they gave him a word to spell. I swore to myself I would remember the word afterwards...but of course I've forgotten it. I do remember it was a multi-syllabic word that ended with "-junes". The guy actually spelled it correctly -- or at least that's what was announced onstage. But I wondered if they just gave him a "free pass" on the word, since it made such a favorable impression on the audience. (Look how well "one of us" is doing!) The guy went down on the next word.

In general, is this part of the show totally "honest"? Do they ever use fake words so they can flunk particularly good spellers, or unfairly flunk people who give correct spellings, or accept incorrect spellings just for effect?
Updated On: 3/10/07 at 11:23 PM

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:29pm

I think the word is "caterjunes."

[liotte]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:34pm

Well, if we posted the answer, it would be a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the show yet!

[sparrman]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:40pm

Well, my real question wasn't what the word was, but how honest this part of the show was in general. But I think I got my answer, because I swear the guy spelled it "caturjunes". I remember thinking "NO!" when he hit that first "u". But they said he got it right.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:43pm

Yeah, I probably spelled it wrong.

[sparrman]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:53pm

No, Googling "caterjunes" gets a lot of hits, all about Spelling Bee, many on this message board. And in one thread someone mentioned having attended the show multiple times, hearing "caterjunes" spelled all sorts of ways, and the speller always "gets it right". So that pretty much answers my question: There's no real "honesty" in that part of the show. A bit disappointing, but it was still a great show.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:54pm

Did you see it in Nashville?

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 3/10/07 at 11:56pm

Ft. Lauderdale next weekend!

[sparrman]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 12:08am

Yes, Nashville.

[jaesdare]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 12:13am

all the other words have to be right, but caterjunes has ALOT of exceptions because they accept whatever sounds right.

yay ft.lauderdale, can't wait to see them again.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 12:17am

jaesdare, when are you seeing it? You live in S. Florida I assume...

[BroadwayPenguin2]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 4:04am

One guy in Philly spelled "Caterjune" without the S... So the joke was trashed and they went on to the good-bye song.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 7:33am

I've seen plenty of people get out on catterjunes.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 7:38am

Oh, great, now they have to find another word.

[liotte]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 7:50am

They have a few other words they use instead of catterjunes. They get thrown in on occassion.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 10:26am

I just don't know why, but there is NOTHING remotely close to interesting about this show that has YET to draw me to it.

I'm in NYC several times a year AND see everything that plays on Broadway (and Off-Broadway) and this show is one that I never make any effort to see.

Never heard the cast recording; the TV promos make my eyes roll; the Tony Awards performance made no impact on me whatsoever. I know the premise of the plot and the subtext on a few characters, but why does this show have such an enormous love affair with the public?

The touring production is playing in Ft. Lauderdale for 2 weeks and I have been offered tickets to several of it's performances, and I'm hating myself for not having any interest in seeing it.

Someone help me see the light. PLEASE!

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 11:33am

I've seen it spelled Katarjeunes and have the person get it right. I've also seen it spelled Caterjunes and have the person get out on it.

As for BrodyFosse123, I think it's because the jokes just don't stand on their own. You don't get any feel of what the show is like from the advertising they do. The commercials make my eyes roll too, and the Tony award performance wasn't anything special. I think the only advertising this show has is its word of mouth. To me, it's the funniest on Broadway now. I didn't stop laughing for the first 20 minutes of the show. Although, it's not for everyone. If you're the kind of person who likes chandeleirs falling in the shows you see, this show is the opposite of that.

[Weez]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 12:02pm

BrodyFosse - this might be a silly thought, do bear with me, but perhaps you'd understand why it was so popular if you actually tried seeing it? Or at least exposing yourself to it a little more than watching a few ads and going "OH NO I DON'T THINK I'LL BE SEEING THAT"? *shrugs*

Updated On: 3/11/07 at 12:02 PM

[uncamark]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 1:59pm

The thing about the audience participation is that they do want to have the audience members offstage by a certain point in the show, thus they do hit them with the more difficult words. You will never see an audience member win the Bee--ever.

Supposedly, there's a story about one audience member who was roaring drunk, obnoxious and pinching Celia Keenan-Bolger's butt--but who kept getting every word right. They ended up throwing one word after another at him to get him offstage. It eventually happened, but it was a struggle.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 3:19pm

I saw it twice while it was in Denver, and both times it happened like that.
Actually, this brings me to a related question: Is the last speller always a guy? I know the lyrics for "Prayer of the Comfort Counselo"r use "dude," but does it ever happen that a woman is the last one standing?

[yellibean2]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 3:29pm

No, the last audience speller varies. It can be man, woman, child, or adult, and they would chance "dude" to "kid", "babe", et cetera. As for caterjunes (along with krizzlemum, smoogligan, balmaccan, and some others), that's the freebie word. I'd say they get it right about 90% of the time, but it does happen that they get it wrong, but that's either of they're running low on time or they do something out of reason. "Caterjunes" is the technically 'correct' spelling, but things like caterjuins, katerjunes, caterjoons, etc. are accepted too.

[desiree armfeldt]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 3:37pm

I remember when I saw the show (on Bway, not the tour) they had gotten rid of every speller except one...and then they called him up to spell a word.

he got it right!

so, he went to sit back down and then they called him up again..

he got it right!

and then he sat back down, hysterically laughing....and was called up again...and he finally cracked under the pressure and messed up.

so, i don't think its staged....I think they just have a time limit or so that they have to maintain that the guest spellers can remain on stage.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 9:39pm

I asked because both times I saw it, a male was the last speller (one was a kid), and they both got "catarjunes" and spelled it right. Thanks!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/11/07 at 11:35pm

I know the lyrics for "Prayer of the Comfort Counselo"r use "dude," but does it ever happen that a woman is the last one standing?

He says "babe" if it's a woman. I saw a teenage girl as the last speller once, and he called her "girl" and said to give her mom some affection, not her squeeze.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/12/07 at 2:28pm

Caterjunes, along with a couple other words, is completely made up for the show. There is no real correct way to spell it, so most of the time, they just declare it correct because it gets a big laugh. Not always, though.