Alright so Lyndsey, Brendan, Jackie and I drove like 12 hours from Utah to go see "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" on Saturday in LA... and yeah... those very cramped 12 hours were so worth it! I completely love this show! I had only seen clips of it before but I've always loved the music and stuff. So yeah here's my review of the day. We got to the theatre about 40 minutes before it started. Jackie and I made the cast little clay people (which I'm sure sounds creepy and stalkerish of us but we just really like clay people and the Bee.. so put two and two together and there you go). Jackie did most of the work because I'm creatively impaired... but I did help her! So yeah we got there early to give them to the cast then realized they probably wouldn't let us go see them so we opted to give them to the stage manager. So we went back to the car and who should be walking through the parking lot but Jay (Panch) and Dan (Barfee) so me... being the eloquent person I am yelled "Hey"... and naturally they looked at me but had no idea who I was and so I sat there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot... couldn't think of anything to say. So they kind of smiled and politely made their way to the theatre and of course just to add to the embarassment I yelled "We made you guys presents" after them... which completely destroyed any pride I had left :) Luckily I recovered from my little outburst and we went in and gave the box of gifts to the stage manager.
Alright so I kept telling everyone that when I went to see the Bee I would go right up to the sign up people and ask to be in it (they let 4 audience members come up and spell) and guess what... a lady came up to me and asked if I wanted to sign up to be in the Bee and what do I do? The same thing I did when I so gracefully yelled 'hey' at Dan Fogler...I stood there with my mouth open for a moment before saying "no.... but um... I'm sure my friend would like to".... stupid stupid stupid! But knowing me if they did let me on stage I would get the word "Cow" and completely forget how to spell. Alright so they show was amazing! The cast was just so good and Coneybear as Logainne's dad just kills me :) This little kid was one of the guest spellers, Ben Cooper I think was his name... and they called him mini cooper... seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen. Pandemonium was awesome to watch! There was just so much going on during that song but it was so well done. 'Woe is Me' (my favorite song, surprise surprise) was so good! I love love love Jesse as Logainne's dad. He and Derrick are hilarious. I love when he says "Daddy conference now". Classic line :) The part where Chip gets out is so funny. I love being in an audience with people who aren't familiar with the show. This row of girls in front of me all gasped and started giggling when Chip stood up and pulled down his sign. It was great sitting behind those girls just to see their reactions! Oh and when Coneybear and Logainne got out I think everyone in the audience wanted to cry... Right when they hit the bell for Coneybear everyone around me went "awwwwww". 'I Speak Six Languages' was just awesome... it looks exhausting though so kudos to Deborah for doing it. Celia, Derrick and Lisa totally nailed "The I Love You Song". It was amazing and depressing all at the same time. And Jay (who plays Panch and I sadly didn't get to meet) was awesome! I love when he freaks out on the spellers or just gets really annoyed at them... definately makes the show! The whole interaction between him and Coneybear is awesome. So the play itself was amazing.
After the play we ran to the stage door... which it turned out we didn't have to do because they don't bolt from the theatre like we thought. So I met Celia first and luckily I didn't sit there speechless like I thought I might... I did, however, act very fangirlish with all of them... it was pretty embarassing. I was like "I love the Bee you guys are so great!" I'm sure they thought I was crazy. Then I met Sarah... which just about made my life! Sarah is seriously so funny and way nice... plus Logainne is my favorite character in the show so it was amazing that I got to meet her. I did say embarassing stuff to her too (Like admitting I made a Logainne fan club on facebook... wow... that's just something you should never admit) but still.. she was so nice about everything. The entire cast really was so great! I'm sure they were all in a hurry and didn't have time to be bothered by us but they all still talked and took pictures and signed stuff.
Sadly though they didn't get the clay things Jackie and I made before we met them... I'm hoping the stage manager gave them to them before or after the night show... but yeah... I felt kind of dumb saying "Hey my roommate and I made you guys clay figures of your characters but you don't have them yet"... totally makes us sound weird... but they turned out cool so who cares if it comes off as obsessive right?
So all in all this was the BEST trip ever! I love the spelling bee and I'm just soooooo happy I got to see the OBC before they never work together again! So yeah... amazing trip.
Prepare yourself for 239018032 pictures!
