Backdoor Theatre’s Best Show EVER!!

Last night I got a sneak, sneak preview of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Backdoor Theatre and man, oh man, was it GREAT!!

First of all, I love interactive theatre!  As a too-busy-to-do-a-show-right-now thespian, I LOVE being on stage and I was able to fill the missing acting gap in my heart tonight as I participated in my very first spelling bee!

The show allows for four audience members to become spelling bee hopefuls.  I was the first audience speller of the night & lucked out with "jihad".  The use in a sentence was really funny and I almost went blank but I got it right.  There was some singing & dancing (the Magic Foot & Pandemonium numbers are super funny--esp from that vantage point) and the audience spellers were eliminated one by one, until it was just me.

My next word was something that began with a C and ended with J-E-A-N.  When Vice-Principal Douglas Panch (played perfectly as dry-as-a-bone spelling bee official, Nick Mariotti) said "that is correct", you'd have thought I won the lottery.  I'd barely taken my seat when they called me up again and proceeded to give me "lysergicaciddiethylamide".  Needless to say, with the scientific name of LSD, that was the end of my spelling bee experience.

Watching the rest of the show from the audience was just as great as being on stage.  The entire cast are just amazingly great singers (sans mics) especially Emily Clements!  I've known the girl for years and she gave me goosebumps with her song!  Man, she absolutely killed it!

The show opens Friday on Backdoor Theatre’s dinner stage.  So if you’re looking for a fun night out, make reservations for din-din beforehand.  We’ve got all the details on our Events page.  And in case you want to practice your spelling skillz, click here.