Talk:The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

message: We've got duplicate articles here folks. see 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. consult your playbills and talk amongst yourselves to decide whether you want the "the" in the title or not. J. Van Meter 00:17, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Merged article

message: The article refers to Putnam County as "geographically ambiguous".  I haven't seen the show so I don't know if there's a reason for this description.  I assumed that the title county was Putnam County New York.
AUTHOR'S NOTE in the Libretto Vocal Book:
Spelling Bee is designed to feel newly created with each performance, and to belong to the community that presents it. The involvement of audience volunteers allows for adaptability and surprise, so that no two performances are exactly alike. We love that it is alive in this way. At the same time, because it is a musical, because it tells a specific story of young people at a turning point in their lives--and of course because if performance time drags on everyone can quickly go from having a great time to hating the show--more is scripted than audiences may realize.
So this text contains elements meant to support the balancing act of the scripted and seemingly unscripted. 
We all hope you enjoy making it yours. At the same time, be aware the show is like a well-oiled machine, which needs certain things to happen at certain times. Stick to the script and you should be rewarded.]
I saw it in Boston, and the cast kept throwing in local jokes, that definetly change at each venue. I think its meant to be geographically ambiguous, or possibly take place in the city the performance is in.
:Yeah, definitely a local thing. Much like the Simpson's Springfield, I think it is meant to be geographically ambiguous. The second time I saw it, with the original Broadway cast in LA (Brentwood specifically), Olive arrived alone on the Big Blue Bus (interestingly whose line ends at the Veteran Affairs compound at which the Wadsworth Theater is housed) and Logainne came from Topanga Canyon, and other cast-member competitors from local suburbs. Definitely a local thing. Valley2city 18:13, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Geographically Ambiguous?

message: Can we have a list of words used in the play? I just saw it tonight and headed to wikipedia to find some words, but they weren't there. Anyone else think that would be a good idea? There is a total of 67 words alluded to directly in the text in addition to 17 "corrects" which makes it 84 words that realistically occur in the Bee. only about 50% or less of these are actually spelled.
I can think of a few:
* Syzygy.
* Lugubrious.
* Pakapoo.f
* Chinchilla.
* Vug.
* Katterjoons or Catterjunes. These spellings are from the script. Catterjunes was the word made by Jay Reiss, and the script implies each Panch might have their own special made-up word.
* Acouchi.
(And the "easy" ones, if we want them, include jihad, cow, and Mexican.) ---Dana 03:59, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Some more: acouchi, phylactery, gardyloo, strabismus, sluice, camouflage, omphaloskepsis, ilspile, zoonosis, chromatophore, astrobleme, elanguescence, weltanschauung --Arcadian 11:54, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

text: No, please do not add anymore WP:LISTCRUFT.  -- Ssilvers 20:13, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Words

message: Can we have a section devoted to this word? I love it. I think I spelled it correctly, but either way, I can't find any information on it anywhere (though I suppose that's the nature of the word and why they chose it). It has to be somewhere, and if it's not, it has to be on Wikipedia. ---Dana 13:34, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I saw this show yesterday in Boston.  The last audience speller spelled the word in question as "caterjune" (one T).  I can't find any spelling of it anywhere on the Internet (and this page (search it) says "Caterjune(s) is not a real word and is always "correct." The cast is directed to semi-break character and act flustered when the participant gets it right."  It also claims "Xerophalmeology is the ultra-elimination word for the volunteers. Occasionally Panch will refuse to give the speller a definition and/or use it in a sentence." which sounds like the way I remember it. -- Plutor talk 21:06, 10 
Seriously, get real. It's a made-up word for the show. When I saw it the kid from the audience (a boy in this case) spelled it "correctly" as caterjune. Then the next word he got was xerosomethigorother.  The vice principle cut him off after the first couple of letters.  This is all scripted.  The kid is always the last of the of the three of four audience members left and always gets caterjune, a made-up word, and always is credited with getting it right no matter how the kid spells it. Then gets the long word xeroas;dlkasdf or zeroxasfaasldkfn  and is always cut off short told it's wrong.  This is scripted folks!  Really. It's amazing how many people don't figure this out and think the kid just figured out how to spell an extinct word that has no meaning or derivation, until Panch is forced to say it was something to do with Nantucket whaling if I recall correctly.  If you doubt me, google "caterjune" and you'll get a slew of stories of the smart little audience kid who went to see "Bee" and spelled the obscure word correctly and impressed the cast.   Crunch 01:55, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Catergunes

message: Once again, how do we delete sections, this is not helpful at all.
I'm not sure about this. I know that the word I put down was spelled incorrectly, and that Xerophthalmia is a real word, but the word used ended with "ology", and the person got out because the word did not start with an "x". I am sure of this. -AtionSong 20:42, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Word? 

message: The "Trivia" section needs to be changed, but I am not sure of the best way to do so.  Currently, only the first statement has any relevance since the second has already been stated, and the third appears to be simply unnecessary.  The entire section seems to have been added by Kiwiboy1221.  Thoughts? Rctbone 23:12, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, trivia violates the WP:MOS.  See WP:TRIVIA.  -- Ssilvers 20:15, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Casey Wollen? 

message: What? Balmacaan not a real word? Haven't they ever heard of a balmacaan suit?
This is not a word in the script it is a word may have been added in the spot of Catterjunes. Can we delete this section?
The word "balmacon," or whatever it is in the script, is not a real word, much like caterjunes. The definition given is something like "unknown. It is an old cowboy term," and the audience member can spell it however they want. Lissakw (talk) 07:51, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Balmacaan 

message: I see that someone has added strike throughs for dates that have passed in the tour.  I understand the logic of this but I think strike throughs connote a cancellation, rather than a completed performace.  Can we just assume that people will understand the current date and be intelligent enough to know which dates are in the past and which are in the future in relation to the current date?  I suggest remove the strikethroughs. Crunch 01:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree.  However, at some point, the entire section will become non-notable.  Maybe in a year or two, and all that really will need to be said is that there was a 30-city national tour (or whatever) in 2006-07, starring (list notable names here).  -- Ssilvers 17:08, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Strike outs for passed dates 

message: I am looking for a little feedback before I go pruning lists.  I think this article has too many lists and not enough prose.  I question the notability of the performers who were understudys in the other casts.  It is becoming the standard in the musicals articles to only really list the most notable casts (New York, Londond etc.) and then to have a separate section discussing the other productions. Broadwaygal 17:50, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: For goodness sake, yes.  The notable cast members (those with Wikipedia articles) should be mentioned in the narrative paragraphs about that production.  Other than that, only the Broadway cast should be listified (and the understudies eliminated), and the replacement history doesn't need to scream with bold letters.  -- Ssilvers 17:06, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: endless list of casts and replacement casts

message: Which characters sing which songs.  Can we add this info to the list of musical numbers?  -- Ssilvers 14:16, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It turns out I have a pdf of the score.   I tried to add some of the names. Most of the songs are by the whole company with a few solos...is it worth writing company over and over again???Thanks - Broadwaygal 14:40, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Songlist

message: I would put the old, longer character descriptions back in.  Since Spelling Bee doesn't really have a plot (so there is no plot summary), the least we can do for the reader is give them some more description of the characters, no?  Best regards, -- Ssilvers 21:07, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Makes total sense actually...any ideas about the formatting?  Thanks Broadwaygal 21:09, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Character descriptions

message: Ssilvers, I don't know... I think the words used section was better as a formatted list. Because many of the words have comments after them, it all kind of runs together and is highly unreadable/unscanable. I think we should discuss this here and come to some sort of consensus on how the list of words should look. Valley2city 01:01, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Hello.  I think the list of words should be deleted.  It's trivial and does not add to a reader's understanding of the show.  Maybe a few examples of words used could be worked into the narrative some place.  But embedding a lengthy, formatted list of words that takes up pages on a print-out does not conform with the Wikipedia manual of style (WP:MOS). See WP:EMBED.  Best regards, -- Ssilvers 02:50, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

text: I think the additional pruning looks great!  I feel that just a smattering of examples to give readers the flavor of the show is much more effective.  Thanks! Broadwaygal 18:20, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

text: I would work on this today, except they're all gone... Broadwaygal 12:53, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, I think we should bring them back in some form or another. I don't think they should be deleted entirelyValley2city 07:02, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

text:  I agree with ssilvers.  I was willing to work with what was there, but I think it's best to keep lists down to a minimum.  Thanks--Broadwaygal 13:47, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Formatting of words used sections 

message: I don't know if that is necessarily true. I've seen the play twice, once on Broadway and once in Los Angeles. We didn't have an intermission in LA but I seem to remember that there was an intermission in the Broadway production, picking up the second act with "My Unfortunate Erection". Correct me if I am wrong. Valley2city 17:47, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Alright, perhaps they have removed the intermission in the past 13 months since I saw it in New York. It's a short enough play that it doesn't really need it, anyway. Besides, with the chance of catching a candy bar or two a moment later, what's the point in having a concessions stand open at that moment? Well, it's unbeknownst to 99% of the theatergoers, so that doesn't really matter. "Oreos! M&Ms! All for one dollar!" Oh the irony when you would go into the lobby and buy one for $4.50 when you can get it for free a few seconds later... Valley2city 18:22, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  no intermission? 

message: I think the new template at the bottom of the page is just redundant information.  I think it should be deleted.  Comments? -- Ssilvers 02:24, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Redundant template

message: I would just like to say that there was a show in January 2008 of this musical in Toronto, and i am not able to edit the portion of the article that says the location of the shows. --Nksilk (talk) 22:08, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Locations of Shows

message: "The first performance in-the-round was at the North Shore Music Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts. This performance was considered successful and the circular theater adds a new dimension to an already amusing musical".
This seems like it could be notable, but it sounds a little biased. Anyone have any ideas how to fix the second sentence to make it more neutral or otherwise provide a citation for this? Valley2city 23:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  POV (in-the-round) 

message: The article is still missing a plot summary.  Some of the stuff in the characters section should go in the plot summary.  -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:04, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Synopsis

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thread_title:  External links modified