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Theatre: The Twenty Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

At the 25th Annual

We've memorized the manual

About how to spell these words

Words that require thought

People think we're automatons

But that is exactly what we're not

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.

This musical contains examples of

Abusive Parents: Implied in "The I Love You Song."
- Although depending on your interpretation, each speller has these to an extent.
All Musicals Are Adaptations: The musical is based on another play, C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E.
Asian and Nerdy: Marcy, usually, though casting varies by production. Eventually subverted when, after a vision from Jesus, Marcy throws the bee so she can stop living up to expectations.
Audience Participation: 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.
Butt Monkey: Pretty much all of the spellers. Including those from the audience. Especially those from the audience.
Character Blog: Both Leaf and Logainne had blogs where they posted videos.
Cloudcuckoolander: Leaf Coneybear has cats!
Counterpoint Duet: "Second"
Cut Song: "Why We Like Spelling" shows up on the main soundtrack but generally isn't present in performances.
Disney Acid Sequence: Olive's big song, with a Lampshade Hanging that the word she's spelling is defined as "removed from reality".
Dark Reprise / Triumphant Reprise: Apart from the first few audience members, one of these comes up nearly every time someone gets eliminated. Leaf's reprise manages to be both, starting out dark and ending triumphant.
Dawson Casting: The adult actors play characters who are in elementary or middle school.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Marcy Park.
Dysfunction Junction: Every single character has serious issues.
The Eleven O'Clock Number: "The I Love You Song"
Final Love Duet: While officially it's not, "Second" has some element of this. Just ask the shippers.
Foregone Conclusion: The play is about competition, but in order to resolve each character arc successfully, the play has to make the same contestant win, and the same contestants lose in the right place, every time it's performed. Incidentally, that means that no matter how many times this production is put on, the winner of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will always be Barf�e.
Geek Physiques: This can get passed around or eliminated on account of differing actors between productions, but Barf�e is frequently overweight.
Gender Blender Name: Logainne (pronounced like "Logan")
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Quite a few of the spelling words. For example, flagellate and vug. (Try saying them out loud)
- Chip asks if Omphaloskepsis can be pronounced "Om-PHAL-oskepsis."
  - Foreshadowing, perhaps?
Give Geeks a Chance: Olive and William
Gospel Revival Number: "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor"
Granola Guy: Leaf
Harpo Does Something Funny: A few segments can be improvised, though often there are default lines that performers can fall back on. In particular, Panch is often played by an improvisational comic and is given a fair amount of leniency with how he deals with the spellers from the audience.
Has Two Daddies: Logainne
Homeschooled Kid: Leaf Coneybear.
I Am Song: "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.
Incredibly Long Note: Logainne finishes "Woe Is Me" with one.
- Mitch holds one in the middle of "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor."
Insufferable Genius: For most of the play, William is rather smug about his spelling technique and gloats over one of the defeated spellers at one point.
It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY: William Barf�e (Bar-FAY)
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 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 biggest Crowning Moments Of Heartwarming in the entire show, since it's one of the only times any character treats the Bee as anything other than Serious Business. Oh, and in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it turns out that Mitch decided to become a comfort counselor full-time.
Half-Jewish and Nerdy: Logainne
Loads and Loads of Roles: Pretty much every member of the cast doubles.
- Especially the actor playing Mitch.
- Traditionally, the double-casting is:
  - Rona - Olive's mother
  - Mitch - Olive's Father, Dan/Logainne's Father
  - William - Leaf's father
  - Leaf - Carl/Logainne's other father
  - Logainne - Leaf's mother
  - Marcy - Leaf's sister, usually Brook.
  - Chip - one of Leaf's siblings, Jesus
  - Olive - one of Leaf's siblings
Magic Feather: Turns out, Barf�e didn't need to use his magic foot after all!
Massive Numbered Siblings: Leaf and all of his siblings (names may vary by production). They are: Marigold, Brooke, Pinecone, Landscape, Raisin, Paul.
Meddling Parents: Logainne's dads; Carl in particular.
Minor Character, Major Song: "Prayer of the Comfort Counselor," sung by Mitch.
A Minor Kidroduction: The show opens with Rona as a kid, winning a previous spelling bee.
Missing Mom / Disappeared Dad: 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.)
Mood Whiplash: 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.
- "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.
Mundane Made Awesome: 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.
Musicalis Interruptus: Panch interrupts "I'm Not That Smart" to ask Leaf to spell his word.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Repeatedly for William "Barfy".
No Fourth Wall: 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."
No Romantic Resolution: Aside from Olive hugging William and him saying she helped him study, there is no resolution to their crush.
Odd Name Out: Leaf's siblings are Marigold, Brook, Pinecone, Landscape, Raisin...and Paul.
Opposites Attract: 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.
Pals With Jesus: Marcy, apparently.
Perfectly Cromulent Word: At least one pretty much always gets thrown at an audience member to spell.
- Justified, as the plot of this play cannot work properly unless the cast members are the ones to make it to the finals, so they had to come up with some pretext to eliminate the audience members eventually.
Positive Discrimination: Averted, and averted very deliberately. Logainne is the most notable case: she's the child of a gay couple, but they are portrayed as deeply flawed, to put it mildly, like any heterosexual parents are capable of being. Marcy looks like she plays this trope straight, being an Asian portrayed as one of the best, but then she throws the bee after advice from Jesus, deciding not to live up to expectations. Chip's aversion of the trope is a variable case depending on the production; because his last name is "Tolentino", Chip is sometimes played by a Hispanic actor. And no, Chip doesn't win the bee either; he's eliminated when he's distracted by an erection he got from looking at an attractive girl, and because of his distraction he tries to back up and correct himself in the middle of a word, which is against the rules.
Putting On My Thinking Cap: Barf�e's "magic foot" that he uses to spell. It gets a whole song.
- 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 Barf�e can't use it to spell. This throws Barf�e off for a minute, but he recovers and manages to get his word right anyway!
Raging Stiffie: A whole song about one.
Chip: Because my stiffy has ruined my spelling!
Schrodinger's Gun: The main use for Perfectly Cromulent Words. Certain words given to audience members are declared correct/incorrect regardless of the actual spelling provided.
- Of course, since the audience members can't be allowed to win the bee since it would ruin the plot of the story, this is justified.
Serious Business: Spelling, natch. This is justified in the song "Why We Like Spelling," wherein the kids explain how being good at spelling fills an emotional void.
- Also, Logainne's Carl Dad puts a lot of pressure on her, causing her to angst.
Sickly Neurotic Geek: William
Simpleton Voice: Leaf is generally played with one.
Speech Impediment: Logainne's lisp.
Spelling Bee: You didn't figure this one out?
Spelling Song: 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.
Stalker with a Crush: Doug Panch for Rona Peretti
Sweater Girl: Marigold Coneybear
Theme Song Reveal: Just before one elimination, the music segues into the departing character's I Am Song.
The Something Song: "The I Love You Song", natch.
Tough Love: Logainne's Carl Dad really, really wants his daughter to win the bee.
Twofer Token Minority during Logainne's political speech, she often mentions that she not only has two gay dads but is also half-Jewish and mixed race.
UnWinnable: 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.
Well Done Son Guy: Leaf is like this; however, it's not just his dad he wants approval from, but his entire family.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Olive has a seat saved for her father, who's working late. Naturally, he just gets later and later as the bee progresses.
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue