Olive Ostrovsky

***Olive Ostrovsky*** is one of the main 6 characters, and one of the 2 lead roles of the musical comedy; *The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee* by William Finn. She is usually Speller #11, and on rare occasions; Speller #13. She places 2nd in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, spelling elanguescence wrong.

## Olive Ostrovsky

### Relatives

Mr. and Mrs. Ostrovsky (parents; canon) : Rona Lisa Peretti (adoptive mother; fanon)

## Appearances

### Appears in

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

### Debut

Barrington Stage Company; 2004Off-Broadway; 2005 Broadway; 2005

## Appearance

**Barrington Stage Company World Premiere:** Olive has fair skin, caramel hair that is pulled up to a high left-sided ponytail. She wears pink overalls over a lime green polo shirt. She wears pink and purple star socks, and white sneakers with baby blue laces. She wears a number "7" speller tag that has her name embroidered under the number.

**OBC:** Olive has fair skin & caramel hair that's in a swept-up half up/down look, She wears pink overalls over a white blouse with embroidered flowers and vines around the arms and neckline. She wears striped socks and worn-down unmatched sneakers with white laces.

**2006 Season:** Olive's appearance kept the same except for her hairstyle. She has ginger colored hair, where half of her hair were in 2 high ponytails and the rest is down.

Barrington Stage Company Olive, 2004.Broadway Olive, 2006.
## Character Background

> ***"A word lover, Olive has a fairly quiet life. An only child with often-absent parents, Olive spends a lot of her time alone. She fills some of that time reading the dictionary--the words bring her comfort, as the idea of the vastness of the world the book contains. During the first part of the bee, she often peers into the audience to see if her father, who is delayed at work, has made it yet. She is enormously shy, and shyly blossoms."***
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## Backstory & Synopsis

**Pre-Spelling Bee:** Olive is an 11 year old girl that attends Garrison Elementary and lives in Garrison, New York. Her parents neglect her often and forced her to fend for herself when no else could see. She generally doesn't have any friends and the only thing that she could go for comfort was her dictionary (My Friend, The Dictionary). Some critics even think she hides a lot more depressing information just by covering her arms. In some perspectives or workshops, Olive is shown to have cigarette burns to reveal the abuse she endures from her father. The only figure that could take care of her before the story was her mother, that cherished her very much & loved her. Unfortunately, her mother was absent as well. What made it even worse was that her mother left on a "spiritual quest", which confirmed she was never going to return in Olive's life.

**Spelling Bee:**

**Act I:** Olive is contest #11 and is a new contender in the competitive spelling world. She is berated by William Barfée for stepping on his invisible tape & she apologizes. After the opening number, she is searched by Rona and talks to her about her pending entrance fee, which was $25. Rona asks who brought her to the bee, and she replied "the bus", she was then asked to take by seat by Miss Peretti. She hears the other spellers talk to each other and then asks William what school he goes to; his reply was "shut up"; which left her quiet. Olive's first word was "boanthropy" and she asked for the definition which was "the delusion that one has become an ox". She then sees someone sitting in her dad's chair and sings about she saved that chair for dad and then about small bits of her family life & then her love and best friend; the dictionary (My Friend, The Dictionary). It is revealed she ideates by speaking the word into her hand, going and spelling the word carefully. Miss Ostrovsky's next word is "flagellate", and is repeated to speak up to the microphone by the monitors. She is then given a lesson on "how to stand like a champion" by Rona and eventually describes how boys and girls react or behave during a spelling bee. Then, she gives her opinion of what she's thinking.

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>  "Well, I’m thinking.. does flagellate have one ell or two — and what about if you take the “w”
>  of *answer* and the “h” in *ghost* and the extra “a” in *aardvark* and the “t” in *listen*, you could keep
>  saying “what” but nobody could hear you, because the whole word -- is ***SILENT***."
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Rona then asks her to still speak; and she did just that. She scream-spelled the word and got it correct.
 **Act II:** Olive returns to the gymnasium with the rest of the spellers after their snack break and Chip's Lament about *His Unfortunate Erection*; Chip throws a bag of M&M's at Barfée, she watches & almost tries to interfere. She then talks to William about what just happened, and he told her he doesn't need pity from someone named after a vegetable. She then corrects him by saying it's a fruit & he says that it's a disgusting fruit and he can't keep them down; but he did say it was an okay name. She then tells him how one could switch vowels in words to make a new phrase.

> "Did you know that if you switch the first two vowels in “olive” it becomes “I love” ? *Did you know that if you switch the first two vowels in “William” it becomes “William”?..* Yeah, but you can switch the next two –then it’s “will aim”. *Are these really the kind of things you think about?* **Um.. yeah**."
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She then parts from him and sits back down in the bleachers. Rona then enters and introduces the finalists. Miss Peretti then calls her school name and hers and she asks for her dad but is interrupted. She spells hallux correctly during the Spelling Montage and hugs Leaf goodbye as he got eliminated. When Logainne's next to spelling, her phone rings and asks Miss Peretti since it's her father. She comforts Logainne when she got yelled ay by Panch before her father came in and asked for everyone to leave. Olive is called up to spell, After the interference, Rona tells her that her father's going to arrive late & will discuss the entrance fee when he gets there. Her word is chimerical, and the definition is ***unreal, imaginary, visionary, wildly fanciful, and highly unrealistic.*** The words realize and flashback to her mother in her image. She then sings about who will take her Washington D.C. if she wins and nobody cares about her. Olive's mother then sings about she loved her ever she gave birth to her and whenever she was there, she was happy. Olive's mother then sings about how she loves her & takes care of her; then Olive's father enters as well with the same answer. (The I Love You Song). Olive then tells how she tried to communicate in regards to her mother, but she never answered & how she never asked her when she could go with her to Mumbai, when she wanted to leave as well. Olive craves an answer and then is concerned about her father & his physical abuse towards her and her mother with the lyrics ***"I think he takes out on me, what he wants to take out on you".*** Olive then keeps calling her name and wishes & begs she was home. All 3 of them start to sing together about how they love her and each other.. unfortunately, they abruptly stop, with Olive saying the word, spelling the word and the definition. They sing the phrase "I Love You" one final time; where their visionary views disappear and Olive returns to the normal world. Olive sings Logainne goodbye and is one officially one of the finalists. Both Barfée & Olive now start rephrasing new words with new phrases and they sing about being the winner and how ***they will NOT come in second.*** Olive's worked so hard and she'd hate if she wasn't the winner. Her final word was ***elanguescence,*** which she spelled wrong. She watches William spelling weltanschauung and stops mid-way and dance a duo ballet fantasy, which explains feelings for each other; unofficially. Olive is glad to realize she has a friend and she's now okay to come in second. Barfée continues to spell weltanschauung, and again stops at the ***u.*** Olive told him that it's okay and William was the confirmed winner of ***The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.*** She was given a $25 runner-up prize, which *coincidentally was the entrance fee price.* Olive gave the money to Rona and talks to William about the competition and congratulates him and hugs him.

**Post-Spelling Bee: *[This version has been removed from the musical for it being "too depressing" but is open for others to use: Olive Ostrovsky went home to an empty house, an uncertain future, and a well-worn dictionary -- but a strange new conviction that she would be able to face all three.]*** Olive Ostrovsky reenacted the entire bee for her father in the car ride home. She grew up to be a loving and attentive parent-- and the host of her own radio talk show, where every year she interviewed the runner up of the Putnam County Spelling Bee.

## Trivia

* Olive is one of the few characters that has a second song in the musical; next to Leaf and Chip unofficially with "Pandemonium Reprise" and "I'm Not That Smart Reprise".
* Workshop versions for Olive showing her cigarette burns were removed for it being "too depressing" as well as her depressing epilogue.
* She and Barfée have very minimal costume changes throughout the show's history; excluding her hair change when Josh Gad arrived for the reprising of William Barfée during the 2006 season.
* Celia Keenan-Bolger was not the first choice for being Olive; it was actually C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E Conciever Rebecca Feldman (first Olive picture below).
* She had around 5 hairstyle / 3 costume changes within the show's history;

Crepuscule Olive?, 2002-2003.Barrington Stage Company Olive, 2004.Original Broadway Cast Olive, 2005.Broadway Olive, 2006.San Francisco Olive, 2007.
* In some productions, there is an alternate ending with Olive winning with the word "xanadu".
* Some people think Olive & William end up getting married in the future, making Barfstrovsky canon.
* The only reason of Barfstrovsky being implied/canon are the requited feelings during "Second".
* Olive placed 2nd in Garrison Elementary's Halloween Costume Contest. She was roadkill.
* Olive's mother is on a 9 month "spiritual quest" in India.
* Since the 2005-2006 Broadway Season, Olive was implied/canonically ginger until Celia-Keenan Bolger left.