Alex's Random Blog: And the Award for the Best Musical Performance I've ever seen goes to...

Glenbrook North's Production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Oh. My. God. This show. Here, let me start from the beginning.

It was Illinois Theatre Fest '11. I had picked up tickets to two shows: The Drowsy Chaperone during the day and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in the evening. To be honest, I didn't have a clue as to what either of these shows was about. I'd received a synopsis of the former from one of the heads of the theatre department, Mz. Burke, so I kind of knew what to expect from that one. (Even then, I was blown away by that show, but we're not here to talk about that one.) I seriously had no idea what to expect from the performance in the evening.

I was in for one hell of a night.

From the opening chorus, to the words they chose to spell, to the final "Goodbye" chord, everything about this show was perfect. The singers, the minimal set and choreography.

Everything.

I left the show rather depressed. There was no way in hell I'd aspire to anything near the greatness and perfection I had just witnessed. The feeling of awe certainly stayed with me for hours.

To this day, my friends and I talk about this show. I still regard it as the best performance of anything I've ever seen, professional or not. I hope it stays like that for a long, long time.

Imagine my surprise when I found out today that clips existed from this legendary show.

Before I get to that, I suppose I should talk about the actual show, first. "Putnam" tells the story of, you guessed it, a spelling bee. All of the characters spellers in elementary to middle school, and each has their own motivation for being there and trying to win. Last year's winner, the gentle dumb one, the activist, the quiet unloved bookworm, the perfectionist, the nerd; they're all here. They each have another dimension to their character that one learns about as the story progresses. It's all rather interesting.

You've got the vice principal reading hilarious words-used-in-a-sentence, and Rona, a previous winner with various favorite moments of the bee. Lastly, there's Mitch, the seemingly gangsta comfort counselor who wishes that these kids can see that it's not the end and that things will be better, even if he's some tough stuff in his life.

For more information, visit the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putnam_County_Spelling_Bee

Now for the Youtube clips I mentioned. Keep in mind that watching a recording of a performance is never as good as hearing it for yourself.

The Opening