Line #74 Theatre/TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spell.jpg]]
2
3	->''At the 25th Annual''\
4	''We've memorized the manual''\
5	''About how to spell these words''\
6	''Words that require thought''\
7	''People think we're automatons''\
8	''But that is exactly what we're not''
9
10	''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'' is a musical about six misfit kids in a spelling bee and the three crazy adults in charge. The music was written by William Finn and the book was written by Rachel Sheinkin. A later Broadway musical in 2005 opened to excellent reviews and several Tony awards.
11
12	The Broadway shows had unusual amounts of AudienceParticipation- a half hour before the show starts, four real audience members are picked to spell in the bee, for example, and characters will single out age-appropriate audience members as their "families." Often, an improvisational comedian is picked to play the official pronouncer, and comes up with increasingly hilarious and strange examples when asked to use the word in a sentence.
13
14	The six kids, in order of appearance, are:
15	* Chip Tolentino, last year's winner, who is not only good at words but also a star baseball player
16	* Logainne Schwartzandgrubinierre, who has a lisp, is raised by her two gay dads and is precociously aware of political issues
17	* Leaf Coneybear, a home-schooled {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who got into the county bee by default after everyone who beat him in the district bee had to withdraw
18	* William Barfée, a SicklyNeuroticGeek who was doing well at last year's Bee until he was struck down by one of his many allergies
19	* Marcy Park, recently arrived from out of state, who is good at ''everything''; she won her old county's bee last year and went on to make the top ten in the national bee
20	* Olive Ostrovsky, a shy girl who came to the Bee by herself because her mother is out of the country and her father is busy at work
21
22	The three adults are:
23	* Rona Lisa Peretti, the emcee, who is disappointed with the path her life has taken since the glorious day when she won the 3rd Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
24	* Doug Panch, the word pronouncer, whose previous stint in the role five years earlier ended in unspecified ignominy
25	* Mitch Mahoney, the comfort counsellor, an ex-con serving community service who thinks (at least at first) that everybody is taking the bee way too seriously
26	----
27	!!This musical contains examples of
28
29	* AbusiveParents: Implied in "The I Love You Song" when Olive says her dad "takes out" on her what he wants to take out on her absent mother. Although depending on your interpretation, each speller has these to an extent.
30	* AccidentalMisnaming: Repeatedly for William "Barfy" whose surname is pronounced "Bar-''fay''."
31	* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: The musical is based on another play, ''C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E''.
32	* AsianAndNerdy: Marcy, usually, though casting varies by production.
33	* AskAStupidQuestion: Even though the fourth audience speller usually gets an easy word like "cow", they're still expected to ask for the word's definition, then use in a sentence, before attempting to spell it, leading to these responses from Panch:
34	->'''Definition:''' A cow.
35	->'''Sentence:''' Please spell cow.
36	* AudienceParticipation: Four audience members are picked to be spellers, and the audience of the play is treated as though it's the audience of the bee.
37	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: After one audience speller gets a ridiculously easy word (usually "cow"), Logainne bemoans "''I'' want words that lame!". She later misspells the simple word "vug" by over-complicating it as "vugghe".
38	* BunnyEarsLawyer: The contestants are all very odd in their own ways, but underneath that they're some damn good spellers.
39	* ButtMonkey: All of the spellers. Including those from the audience. ''Especially'' those from the audience.
40	* CharacterBlog: Both [[http://www.myspace.com/leafconeybear Leaf]] and [[http://www.myspace.com/logainnes Logainne]] had blogs where they posted videos.
41	* CharacterTics: Each of the main spellers besides Chip and Marcy have a special technique to help them figure out the word before actually spelling it:
42	** Logainne spells out the word on her arm
43	** Olive speaks the word into her hand
44	** Leaf goes into a trance
45	** And of course, Barfée and his magic foot
46	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Leaf Coneybear [[WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue has cats... lots of cats]].
47	* CounterpointDuet: "Second" has both Barfée and Olive singing about their feelings during the climax of the bee.
48	* DarkReprise: Apart from the first few audience members, one of these comes up nearly every time someone gets eliminated. (A couple of contestants manage a TriumphantReprise instead.) [[spoiler:Leaf's reprise]] manages to be both, starting out dark and ending triumphant. Arguably the darkest is [[spoiler:Logainne's, since she's the only one that is devastated by her elimination (aside from Chip, whose elimination is played for laughs). Her reprise doesn't end on a happy note. She leaves close to tears.]]
49	* DefrostingIceQueen: Marcy Park. William Barfée is a male example, initially being quite rude to Olive but later developing feelings for her.
50	* DisneyAcidSequence: Olive's big song, with a LampshadeHanging that the word she's spelling is defined as "removed from reality".
51	* DistractedByTheSexy: Chip Tolentino washes out of the eponymous bee when he notices Leaf Coneybear's buxom older sister Marigold in the audience just as he is given the word "tittup." Predictably, he spells it with only one "t" and is disqualified.
52	* DreamBallet: One ensues when [[spoiler:William realizes how much he has come to like Olive over the course of the Bee]].
53	* DysfunctionJunction: ''Every single character'' [[TheWoobie has serious issues]].
54	* EducationPapa: One of Logainne’s fathers, Carl, makes her practice for hours, and desperately wants her to win.
55	* TheElevenOClockNumber: "The I Love You Song"
56	* EnsembleCast: While the two finalists [[spoiler: William and Olive]] get the most focus, there's still no true main character, with each and every role getting their time to shine.
57	* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: Since the show presents itself as a real spelling bee, the performance takes place over a few hours, with a majority of it in real time.
58	* FinalLoveDuet: While officially it's not, "Second" has some element of this. Just ask the shippers.
59	* GeekPhysiques: This can get passed around or eliminated on account of differing actors between productions, but Barfée is frequently overweight.
60	* GenderBlenderName: Logainne (pronounced like "Logan")
61	* TheGhost: Played with: Olive's father never shows up, but appears in "The I Love You Song" in Olive's imagination.
62	* GiveGeeksAChance: Olive and William
63	* GospelRevivalNumber: "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor"
64	* GradeSkipper: Marcy has skipped both fourth and fifth grade.
65	* HeIsAllGrownUp: The epilogue states that [[spoiler: William]] grew up to be quite handsome.
66	* HippieName: Leaf, as well as his siblings Marigold, Brooke, Pinecone, Landscape, and Raisin. Paul is a comical aversion.
67	* HomeschooledKids: Leaf Coneybear is homeschooled by a hippie family, and is excited to just see a gymnasium.
68	* IAmSong: "I'm Not That Smart", "I Speak Six Languages", and "Woe Is Me" for their individual singers; "Why We Like Spelling" for the spellers as a whole.
69	* IncrediblyLongNote:
70	** Logainne finishes "Woe Is Me" by holding the word "bee" for an impressive amount of time.
71	** Mitch holds the "my" in "that is my prayer" in the middle of "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor," before he goes into the gospel section.
72	* InevitablyBrokenRule: The instructions to the bee are given in song early in the musical, with special attention given to the lyric, "If you start to spell a word you may start over, but the sequences of letters already spoken may not be changed." [[spoiler:Chip's]] attempt to backtrack and correct a mistake he made while distracted is what gets him eliminated, as the chorus throws this lyric back at him.
73	* InsufferableGenius: For most of the play, William is rather smug about his spelling technique and gloats over one of the defeated spellers at one point.
74	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mitch Mahoney, the comfort counselor. He's an ex-con who at one point expresses a desire to "beat [the spellers] up a little, so they understand that pain has degrees." However, "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor" is probably one of the happiest part of the entire show, since it's one of the only times ''any'' character treats the Bee as anything other than SeriousBusiness. Oh, and in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, it turns out that [[spoiler:Mitch decided to become a comfort counselor full-time.]]
75	* JewishAndNerdy:
76	** Logainne, the grade-skipping perfectionist speller, describes herself as "half-Jewish".
77	** In a Chicago production, Chip was renamed Chip Berkowitz.
78	* JesusWasWayCool: [[spoiler: Jesus appears to be this in his short appearance.]]
79	* {{Leitmotif}}: William has “Magic Foot”. Outside of it being the song used to describe his spelling technique, the melody plays during two of his most crucial moments: [[spoiler: when his technique is disabled and when he’s given his final word in “Second”.]]
80	** The “Goodbye” leitmotif is used regularly throughout the show, signifying a contestant’s been eliminated. “The First Goodbye” and “The Second Goodbye” are used when a guest speller is eliminated, “Prayer of the Comfort Counselor” uses it triumphantly to send off the last guest speller, and the reprise of “Woe Is Me” is sung sadly to [[spoiler: an eliminated Logainne.]]
81	* MagicFeather: Turns out, Barfée didn't need to use his magic foot after all!
82	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Leaf and all of his siblings (names may vary by production). They are: Marigold, Brooke, Pinecone, Landscape, Raisin, [[OddNameOut Paul]].
83	* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: Most of the main cast is meant to be between ages 8-14 (though played by adults), but the play is written for general audiences, dealing with mature themes such as erections, innuendo, and abandonment. Exaggerated for explicitly R-rated productions.
84	* MaybeEverAfter: William and Olive develop feelings for each other and become friends, but it's never shown if things go further. The epilogue doesn't say anything to contradict them getting together and [[spoiler: Olive explicitly saying she became a mother certainly implies she wound up with ''someone''.]]
85	* MinimalistCast: {{Downplayed}}. While the six spellers and the three adults are the focal characters, there are several minor characters that only appear for a few scenes.
86	* MinorCharacterMajorSong: "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor," sung by Mitch.
87	* AMinorKidroduction: The show opens with Rona as a kid, winning a previous spelling bee.
88	* MissingMom: For Olive, both of her parents are absent in their own way. Her mother is on a self-discovery trip in India, while her dad is implied to be emotionally distant as a result. (As well as physically absent from the bee.)
89	* MisspellingOutLoud: Most of the characters get eliminated for reasonable slip-ups involving doubled or silent letters -- and then there's [[spoiler:Marcy's rebellion against her parents' oppressively high expectations by spelling "camouflage" with a J and a Z]].
90	* MoodWhiplash:
91	** From "The I Love You Song", Olive's mother breaks the somber, beautiful tone of the piece with the line "if you feel my gloom, blame it on me. Blame it on your daddily and mammily, because depression runs in our family", which usually garners a few laughs from the audience.
92	** "The I Love You Song" itself is a massive mood whiplash, as the play is almost entirely a raunchy comedy up until this point and there's utterly no warning that the upcoming song is going to be leading to more than a few tears until it finally starts.
93	** [[spoiler: Logainne's elimination could be seen as one, though it can vary between productions. She hilariously misspells a three letter word (vug)... but she doesn't laugh. Instead she begs America to still love her even though America hates losers. Some productions have her drag her feet off stage, but some make her leave in tears. She's the only character whose exit doesn't end on a happy note. ]]
94	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Apart from the general premise of having a musical about a spelling bee, some scenes particularly play this up with things like spelling in ''slow motion''.
95	* MusicalisInterruptus: Panch interrupts "I'm Not That Smart" to ask [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Leaf]] to spell his word.
96	* NoAntagonist: The show is more focused on the competition and learning about the six spellers, leaving very little in the way of a villain. The closest anyone comes to being an antagonist is one of Logainne’s dads, since he [[spoiler: deliberately spills soda on the ground, intending to disable William’s technique and get him eliminated.]]
97	* NoFourthWall: Along with the audience spellers, the audience treated as if they're attending the spelling bee rather than a play about a spelling bee. The intermission is even a "snack break."
98	* NoodleIncident: The Incident Five Years Ago that prevented Panch from coming to the bee for some time.
99	* NoRomanticResolution: Aside from [[spoiler: Olive hugging William and him saying she helped him study, there is no resolution to their crush. Though their respective endings are open enough with nothing to contradict them getting together.]]
100	* OddNameOut: Leaf's siblings are Marigold, Brook, Pinecone, Landscape, Raisin...and Paul.
101	* OppositesAttract: Logainne's Carl Dad and Dan Dad. Carl is all business, making Logainne practice her spelling without end, while Dan is much more lax and values Logainne's comfort over her ability to spell.
102	* OverlyLongName: Logainne Schwartzandgrubinierre
103	* PalsWithJesus: [[spoiler:Marcy, apparently, as Jesus shows up to help free her from her BrokenAce status.]]
104	* ParentalLoveSong: "The I Love You Song", though Olive's parents [[ParentalNeglect aren't actually there]], she's only imagining them and wishing they'd express their love for her.
105	* PerfectlyCromulentWord: At least one fake word always gets thrown at an audience member to spell. Justified in that at certain points, Panch needs to determine whether a spelling is fake or correct to get the audience member out at the right time, which is only guaranteed with a word the audience member doesn't know.
106	* PetTheDog: After being surly the whole show, Panch shows his sympathetic side near the end of the show by [[spoiler:giving Olive the money she needs to pay the entrance fee to the bee]].
107	* PronouncingMyNameForYou: William Barfée often has his name mispronounced as "Barfy", and he is always quick to correct such instances ("It's Bar-FAY").
108	* PuppyLove: William and Olive develop a possibly mutual crush.
109	* PuttingOnMyThinkingCap: Barfée's "magic foot" that he uses to spell. It gets a whole song. [[spoiler:Then Logainne's father attempts to ''sabotage'' the foot by spilling something all over the floor (in between contestants which is why the organizers don't see him do it) so Barfée can't use it to spell. This throws Barfée off for a minute, but he recovers and manages to get his word right ''anyway''!]]
110	* RagingStiffie: Chip gets a whole song about one.
111	-->'''Chip:''' Because my stiffy has [[spoiler:ruined my spelling!]]
112	* RhetoricalRequestBlunder: After being given one of her words, Marcy mutters [[spoiler:"Jesus Christ, can't you give me a more difficult word than ''that''?" -- and Jesus Christ makes a personal appearance to answer the question. It turns out all right for her, though, as Jesus doesn't take her literally and instead they have a friendly conversation about what she really wants]].
113	* RunningGag: In regards to the spellers' words. William gets terms that either sound off-putting or are medically related. Examples include halitosis, antihistamine (which is especially pertinent to his [[spoiler:peanut allergy]]) and lugubrious. Logainne, who has a lisp, gets words with excessive “s” sounds such as cystitis and strabismus. Chip's naughty-sounding words [[spoiler: have a lot to do with his libido-- tittup, omPHALOskepsis.]] And Leaf's are all South American rodents.
114	** The other characters [[AccidentalMisnaming mispronouncing William's last name as "Barfee"]].
115	* SchrodingersGun: The main use for {{Perfectly Cromulent Word}}s. Certain words given to audience members are declared correct/incorrect regardless of the actual spelling provided. Since the audience members ''can't'' be allowed to win the bee since it would ruin the plot of the story, this is justified.
116	* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: A recurring theme, most obviously in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Second"]].
117	* SeriousBusiness:
118	** Spelling. This is justified in the song "Why We Like Spelling," wherein the kids explain how being good at spelling fills an emotional void.
119	** Logainne's Carl Dad puts a lot of pressure on her, causing her to {{angst}}.
120	** Basically, Mitch is the only character who ''doesn't'' treat the bee as one. He comes off as a bit of an OnlySaneMan because of this.
121	* SicklyNeuroticGeek: William has various chronic illnesses, including a severe peanut allergy and a rare mucus membrane disorder, which makes him quick to being overdefensive, but is intelligent enough to find solace in spelling, as well as the sciences.
122	%%* SimpletonVoice: Leaf is generally played with one.
123	* SpeechImpediment: Logainne's lisp.
124	* SpellingBee: The whole show takes place at a spelling bee.
125	* SpellingSong: Well, it is a spelling bee. What's more surprising is how few are present; only "Magic Foot" and "Second" use the actual act of spelling as more than a brief spoken aside/background.
126	* StalkerWithACrush: Doug Panch for Rona Peretti
127	* StigmaticPregnancyEuphemism: Olive's mother can't come to the Bee because she's on a nine-month journey of self-discovery in India. It's not confirmed that it's an example of this trope, but the stated length of her absence, along with Olive mentioning that her father is really angry at her mother about something, is certainly suggestive.
128	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Chip's Lament comes in one of two versions, depending on the intended audience of a given production; the one without the rude words mostly has new rhymes to suit, except right at the end where it uses the original rhyme scheme and a LastSecondWordSwap to give attentive listeners a chance to realize precisely what Chip's lamenting.
129	* ThemeSongReveal: Just before one elimination, the music segues into the departing character's IAmSong.
130	* TheSomethingSong: "The I Love You Song".
131	* ToughLove: Logainne's Carl Dad really, ''really'' wants his daughter to win the bee.
132	* TriumphantReprise:
133	** [[spoiler:On being eliminated, Leaf does a reprise of his IAmSong, "I'm Not That Smart", which starts out sad but ends on a triumphant note, because although he didn't win he's lasted longer than anybody expected and proved to himself that he ''is'' smart]].
134	** [[spoiler:Marcy's elimination song uses the tune of "Pandemonium", which complained that a good speller might still lose due to bad luck, with new words celebrating the fact that Marcy has taken control of her own destiny by deliberately getting a word wrong]].
135	* TwoferTokenMinority: During Logainne's political speech, she often mentions that she not only has two gay dads but is also half-Jewish and mixed race.
136	* UnwinnableByDesign: The audience members ''cannot'' win the spelling bee; if they get too far, they'll unexpectedly get several hard words thrown at them in a row until they get one wrong. Justified, however, because the play wouldn't work properly otherwise.
137	* VagueAge: It's never specified how old the kids are, probably because [[DawsonCasting they're all played by adults anyway]]. Chip, Olive, and William are all old enough to be interested in the opposite sex, Logainne is younger than the others, and that's all we know. (The Scripps National Spelling bee, which presumably is what the kids are trying for, does not allow kids who have either not graduated from 8th grade or turned 15, whichever comes first.)
138	* VictoriousLoser: [[spoiler:Leaf barely makes it into the last five before getting a word wrong and leaving the contest. Any of the other kids would consider this a failure, but to Leaf there's victory in the fact that he outlasted five other competitors and demonstrated that it wasn't just luck that he got this far.]]
139	* WellDoneSonGuy: Leaf is like this; however, it's not just his dad he wants approval from, but his ''entire family.''
140	* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Olive has a seat saved for her father, who's working late. Naturally, he just gets later and later as the bee progresses.
141	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: At the end, each character comes forward in turn to give a sentence or two about what happened to their character after the bee.
142	* WorfHadTheFlu: William lost the previous year, not because he misspelled a word, but because he had sudden medical emergency due to an allergic reaction. [[spoiler: Given he wins here, he might've been victorious the previous year if that that didn't happen.]]

Context Theatre / TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee