Send me some good spelling karma
UPDATE 10 p.m. Wednesday: I was the third of the four spellers to be kicked off! I even did a little dancing in front of 1,500 people, and the roof of the Saroyan didn’t cave in.
Here’s the word I missed, Heather: “abulia.” It’s a psychiatric term. I spelled it “ebulia.”
It was a great show, by the way. Some of the best singing I’ve heard in a national tour coming through the Saroyan.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Tonight’s the night: I take the stage as the celebrity speller in the national touring production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at the Saroyan Theatre. Here’s my goal: to not be the first of the four audience volunteers booted off stage. Then again, if I make it past that point, I’m going to have to dance, and that’s a scary thought in itself. (Not so much for me as the audience.)
The one thing I know is that there’s no chance I can win. Not even national spelling bee champs have made it into this intermissionless musical’s second half — it’s not written that way. (Weird bit of trivia: When Julie Andrews was the celebrity speller, she missed on “supercalifragilisticexpealadoucious.”) It kind of takes the pressure off when I know I’m destined to lose!
Responses to "Send me some good spelling karma"
How fun!!! Good luck! Something tells me you’re going all the way!!!!
Good luck to you, sir! Good spellers rule.
I was impressed that you were able to spell cow, C-O-W, cow. That one always gets me!
This is the second time I’ve seen Spelling Bee (the first was in San Francisco) and I think I liked it even better here on the home turf. Or maybe it was just your dancing that really sealed the deal.
Do you have any pictures to post of you and the other three bee spellers that were picked?
@Dally: Alas, no. I wish I had a memento. But I do plan to post a pic of my juice box! I’ve also written a column for Sunday’s Spotlight section about my experience on stage.