Review Of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

On February 27th Friday night, I went to see the funny, and emotional musical where the audience can get to laugh, learn, and also participate. It was called “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”. It was so much fun watching the musical because of its interesting characters, informational dialogues, great music, and interaction with the audience.

I felt like because the characters had so many different personalities, and different pasts, the musical was interesting. The flashbacks the spellers had helped me to recognize them more, and understand their situations so much better. The transitions between the flashbacks, and the present time was enough to understand characters’ emotions at that time. The musical’s main idea was created around every spellers’ past. The flashbacks that introduced us the characters also made the musical fun, since the setting has changed time to time so that it didn’t always take place in the spelling bee. The characters were completely different from each other. For example Marcy Park, who had a pretentious air, was the one who had the ability to do everything, but also complained about most of the things in her life. On the other hand Olive Ostrovsky was very naive, and kind to others. 

The dialogues that the vice principal Douglas Panch, and Rona Lisa Peretti have had with the spellers were very informational. I had learned a lot of new words because they sometimes defined the words that spellers had to spell. Learning new words made it fun. The sentences that they were asked to use in were so funny, too.

The musical was also enjoyable thanks to the fun music that took place in the play. Singing was another way for characters to express their feeling, to tell their stories, or to talk to the audience. 

I feel like the best part of this musical was the interaction with the audience. In the beginning of the play, Rona Lisa Perretti announced four people from the audience to join to the musical as a speller. That made it so exciting, because the spellers were chosen randomly; it even included some teachers which made it even funnier. In some part of the musical Chip Tolentino started throwing snacks at the audience. It was another way that made the audience get more interested in the play.

I really liked the stage setting, and the decors. They gave an impression of a gym as they had to. The lights were the most important elements in the musical. Whenever a character had a flashback the stage got darker, so that we could understand that the flashback took place at another time, and was in their mind.

I had so much fun during the musical. I got to laugh, think, and learn. It was a great musical.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a long musical that can also be classified as a comedy musical, and is written by Rebecca Feldman. The music and lyrics of the musical are written by William Finn. It was originally a book by Rachel Sheinkin. The musical was competed in numerous award shows including The Grammys and Tony Awards. The musical was workshopped and developed in Massachusetts.

This musical has a strong interaction with its audience. Before every show, a sign up sheet is presented to the audience for audience members to participate in the show as spellers. The sign up sheet usually asks for name, occupation, hobbies, description of clothing, spelling ability, and age range. 

The musical is about a spelling bee that takes place in Putnam Valley Middle School. The character that opens the show is called Rona Lisa Peretti, and the play starts with her flashback where she recalls her victory in the third annual spelling bee. The musical continues with other contestants’ spellings. While watching them participate in the spelling bee, we also learn more about their backgrounds, hobbies, and more information about them. The learning process of characters’ backgrounds happens with their flashbacks. 

Major characters include a long list of people that are: Rona Lisa Peretti, Vice Principal Douglas Panch, Mitch Mahoney, Olive Ostrovsky, William Morris Barfée, Logainne "Schwarzy" SchwartzandGrubenniere, Marcy Park, Leaf Coneybear, Charlito "Chip" Tolentino, and Three or four spellers from the audience. 

It is a comedy musical that has a high interaction with its audience which makes the play more fun, and unique.

Clean by Taylor Swift (lyrics)

The drought was the very worst

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

It was months, and months of back and forth

You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore

Hung my head as I lost the war, and the sky turned black like a perfect storm

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning gone was any trace of you,

I think I am finally clean

There was nothing left to do

When the butterflies turned to dust that covered my whole room

So I punched a hole in the roof

Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you

The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud but no one heard a thing

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning, gone was any trace of you,

I think I am finally clean

I think I am finally clean

Said I think I am finally clean

10 months sober, I must admit

Just because you're clean don't mean you don't miss it

10 months older, I won't give in

Now that I'm clean I'm never gonna risk it

The drought was the very worst

When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning gone was any trace of you,

I think I am finally clean

Rain came pouring down when I was drowning

That's when I could finally breathe

And by morning gone was any trace of you

I think I am finally clean

Finally clean

Think I'm finally clean

Think I'm finally clean

Key To Experience

Saving money for a big school like Cheshire Academy can be a little bit challenging because of the number of people, and the school's needs like renovation of some classrooms, or some buildings. It can become a crucial issue for the school if the school doesn't take the needed actions. Canceling field trips to save money may be one of the worst ideas. I believe that field trips allow us, students, to learn new things apart from just learning from a text book, but actually experiencing it. It also allows us to remember what we learn during those field trips. 

Nowadays students get bored from just studying from a book, and trying to learn from what they read. They become uninterested about that topic when they start reading it from a book, since they don't know what that topic is really about. For example if a student reads a history book to learn more about the ancient empires, the information that that student gets might feel confusing to him/her. That student can read about everything that talks about those empires including what jewelry they used to wear at that time, or with what kinds of instruments they used to cook with. Just reading about them can never be enough, but actually seeing them can make that student feel more interested about it. That student can get to experience what was it like to live with those instruments if he/she can get to see them. A simple field trip to a museum might be that student's first step to a whole new world full of exciting informations. If CA cancels field trips, it might effect students' will to learn. 

Apart from gaining an experience from the field trips, they can also make the information permanent. Field trips always sound so exciting to students. When they get excited, they want to learn more about that topic, so they get interested about it. Every experience they gain is one new information that they will recall for the rest of their lives. Field trips aren't limited just to museums. For example visiting a zoo can be an educational trip, too. For a biology class that studies the animals' behaviors, and their life styles, visiting a zoo can be a great idea. The students can actually get to see those animals, and their interactions with each other which will make the students remember the informations they learn at school. Without a field trip to a zoo, the students in that class can study only for their tests, and after that forget about everything they have learned. 

Field trips are opportunities for students to learn more about their studies, and readings. Taking this opportunity away from them to save money would be taking the opportunity to learn away from them. CA should save money on other things, and keep organizing field trips for students to experience more, and remember more. 

Language Replacement Activity 2

Gregory, the Cat


I own a wonderful Persian Cat named Gregory. He has pride and grace; his steps make him look like a dancer as he slowly lifts and lowers each paw. His pride, however, doesn't come from his appearance, for most of the time watching television and eating a lot become his favorite activities. He enjoys TV commercials, especially Meow Mix and 9 Lives. When he is bored with the cat food commercials,  a specific type of cat food is not his preference; the most expensive brands seem more exciting to him. Gregory acts as picky about visitors as he acts about what he eats. His friendship is limited to a few people, since not a lot of people seem friendly to him. He may snuggle up against your ankle, begging to be petted, or he may start acting like an enemy and bite you. This part of Gregory doesn't show his side to establish his territory, as many cat experts think, but to humiliate me because he gets jealous of my friends. When we get some time alone, I look at the adorable old fleabag snoozing and smiling to himself in front of the TV, and I forget his bad attitudes that comes with his obnoxious side, but always remember his charming side.

Language Replacement Activity

A Friendly Clown

Located on the top of my dresser, is a unique toy clown on a tiny unicycle -- I received this gift last Christmas from a close friend. The clown's short yellow hair made of yarn overlays its ears. The little dark eyelashes lightened the beauty of the blue eyes. The toy was composed of cherry-red cheeks, nose, and lips, and a delightful smile. It carries an exquisite white necklace on its neck. The clown is also dressed in a red and blue costume. The left side of the outfit looks light blue, and the right side seems red. The two colors mix into a line that meets down the center of the toy. The white spokes on the wheel of the unicycle lie near inside the center and follow the black tire so that the wheel gives an impression of the inner half of a grapefruit. I enjoy looking at the clown. This colorful toy which smiles at me whenever I enter my room is the best gift I've ever received from my special friend. I love it as my favorite treasure. 

Sera, Amanda, Nancy

Best Twists

There were a lot of good endings and twists in the short stories that were written in class. There were three that I liked the most. These three stories have different twists than other stories, and they have interesting endings. 

The first one I liked is Sophia’s. She talks about an action that surprises her. The story is between her dad and her. The action that her dad does surprises her. She writes about a cold day, and she tells that she and her dad goes out. Her dad wears a coat that keeps him very warm. On the other hand she doesn’t wear anything to keep her warm. When her dad asks her if the weather is cold or not, she thinks that her dad is going to give her his coat, but he doesn’t. The twist happens at that scene where his father warns her to dress conveniently for the weather next time. I liked this story, because it is a situation that is different than what usual happens. While hoping that he would give his coat to her, we see that his dad just gives her an advice about being more prepared next time. This is something that can happen in the real life, so that’s why I found this story’s topic close to me.

The second story that I liked was Leo’s. He wrote about a mistake that all of us can do sometimes. He writes about someone who tries to find his phone, but realizes in the end that he was holding the phone in his hand all the time. I liked the twist because I liked how he told us that he was holding the phone all the time. He wrote about the main character calling his mom, and he actually tells us at that scene that it is the phone that he’s been looking for, and it’s been there all the time. 

The last story that I liked the twist of belongs to Zen. I liked the poetic descriptions in his story. He writes about the wind, and in the end I liked how he tells us that the twist is about the wind by writing that sentence in one paragraph. It shows us that there is something important about that phrase. That sentence has a poetic description, too. I also liked how he used she for the wind. It made me think the wind’s properties like being kind, and soft. That’s also what he tells about the wind in his last sentence by saying “I miss the soft one of you..”. I believe that he had done a good job by actually making us understand the properties of the wind by making us think that it is something else. 

I believe that all of the stories I have read were great, but these three stories had the most interesting topics, and endings. 

The Unusual

http://youtu.be/SaLZnQMYf9Y