my 45 minutes of fame.
I had heard of and wanted to go see the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" in Chicago, but never made the time to go... so when I found out it was being performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, I bought tickets for my mom and myself without hesitation. My mom and I went to see it tonight! As we walked into Segerstrom Hall, ushers were asking attendees if they wanted to participate in the spelling bee. I figured, why not, it'd be fun! So I lined up and filled out a form to volunteer. They had us come back at 7:20 (10 minutes before the show) to announce the four selected volunteers who would get to participate in the spelling bee contest, so in the meantime my mom and I sat down at our seats - which were pretty far back since it was in the second tier. At 7:20 I went to the place where I filled out the form, noticed the huge crowd, and since I hardly ever get selected for things, I was surprised to hear my name called first! I was the token asian volunteer, there was a young woman in her 20's-30's?, a young boy around 14?, and an elderly man around 60? They took us four volunteers backstage, told us we were selected due to our great personalities, gave us a pin with "Spelling Bee Finalist" on it, and told us we had to ask these two questions no matter what: "May I have the definition please?" and "Can you use that word in a sentence?" Simple enough. :) Since my mom and I had seats that were on an upper floor, they moved us up to the orchestra section so I would make it to the stage quickly when they called my name. So, we were able to score some pretty sweet seats. :) It was lots of fun being able to be on stage and participate... we were all seated on the bleachers and I was sandwiched amidst the performers. My first word was "atheist" - easy enough. Another volunteer got "jihad" but spelled it incorrectly and was taken off the stage. Myself and the other two volunteers made it past the first round - they got the word "cow" and "Mexicans". Of course a lot of singing and dancing happened after the first round - the performers would whisper to me what to do and how to act, so I just had to play along -- this meant linking arms with the performers and running around the stage and holding hands with the other volunteers and jumping up and down. Anyway, my next word was "zuuzuu" and I totally got that wrong, so I was ushered off the stage with my juice box... (if you see the show you'll know what the juice box is all about!) They needed to eliminate all the volunteers so the others got silly words and were eliminated as well. The fun part for me was how I felt like an instant star after the show as the people who sat all around me congratulated me for doing a great job, and the ushers told me I did a great job, and when I was in the bathroom, the women in line asked me what it was like up there, how I was selected, whether I knew the words ahead of time, etc... and the questions and congratulations continued during my entire walk back to the car, and even in the parking structure someone honked, rolled down his window, and yelled "Great spelling tonight!" That was fun and unexpected!
Participating in the spelling bee reminded me of my spelling bee experiences from elementary school. One things for sure, you learn from your mistakes. I'll never again misspell "chrysanthemum." :)
My favorite character was definitely "Marcy Park": A recent transfer from Virginia, Marcy placed 9th in last year’s nationals. She speaks six languages, is a member of all-American hockey, a championship rugby player, plays Chopin and Mozart on multiple instruments, sleeps only three hours a night, hides in the bathroom cabinet, and is getting very tired of always winning.
Of course the token Korean girl freaks out about how perfect and amazing she is and always has to be and then intentionally spells her word incorrectly. Silly Asians.
Here's some more information about the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee":
In the Tony Award-winning new musical THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. "SPELLING BEE is riotously funny and remarkably ingenious. Gold stars all around," says The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal called SPELLING BEE, "perfect in every possible way" that rarity of rarities, a super-smart musical that is also a bona fide crowd-pleaser. An ingenious blend of simplicity and sophistication, it’s not merely funny, it's wise.
Participating in the spelling bee reminded me of my spelling bee experiences from elementary school. One things for sure, you learn from your mistakes. I'll never again misspell "chrysanthemum." :)
My favorite character was definitely "Marcy Park": A recent transfer from Virginia, Marcy placed 9th in last year’s nationals. She speaks six languages, is a member of all-American hockey, a championship rugby player, plays Chopin and Mozart on multiple instruments, sleeps only three hours a night, hides in the bathroom cabinet, and is getting very tired of always winning.
Of course the token Korean girl freaks out about how perfect and amazing she is and always has to be and then intentionally spells her word incorrectly. Silly Asians.
Here's some more information about the musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee":
In the Tony Award-winning new musical THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. "SPELLING BEE is riotously funny and remarkably ingenious. Gold stars all around," says The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal called SPELLING BEE, "perfect in every possible way" that rarity of rarities, a super-smart musical that is also a bona fide crowd-pleaser. An ingenious blend of simplicity and sophistication, it’s not merely funny, it's wise.