25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee! -CMU Theater

Last week, I had a conversation with Chelsea that went as follows:

[2/19/2011 11:35:14 AM] Chelsea: What are you up to today?
[2/19/2011 11:36:33 AM] Scott Griffith: I am going to go see 25th annual Putnam Spelling Bee with some friends! I am excited
[2/19/2011 11:36:46 AM] Chelsea: Weird.
[2/19/2011 11:39:53 AM] Scott Griffith: why weird?
[2/19/2011 11:40:15 AM] Chelsea: A spelling bee?
[2/19/2011 11:40:22 AM] Scott Griffith: it is a musical... ;)
[2/19/2011 11:40:36 AM] Chelsea: Ohhhh.
[2/19/2011 11:40:43 AM] Chelsea: Now it sounds fun.
[2/19/2011 11:40:51 AM] Chelsea: Are they going to spell in song?
[2/19/2011 11:42:25 AM] Scott Griffith: i think so..

As you can see by the date it was last Saturday. You may be wondering why it has taken me this long to write about this interesting event. That is because I did not go last Saturday... and here is why:

So there were 7 of us that were going to go see CMU's production of 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.' We all decided that this was a notable occasion, and to acknowledge such an even we should go all out. So we all met at 'The Elbow Room' in Shadyside, as per Randy's suggestion. The dress code was 'fancy... but not too fancy.' A side note: I received a text that was to the affect of: 'How fancy are we dressing up? Are you going to be wearing pants?' I thought it was amusing that the level of dress would be determined by my pants... but everyone showed up looking very nice. This establishment reminded me very much of DownRiver, classy, but not too stuck up. Dad, just for you, I ordered the Ruben Sandwich. It was amazing. You would have liked it. Turns out Randy is dating the manager, so after dinner we were offered desserts on the house! Dinner was great. as always good company!

The show was at 8:00, and we were not able to leave the resturaunt until 7:50. This meant that we were in a bit of a time crunch, but didn't have very far to go. We rushed over to CMU, jumped out of the car and ran up to the theater. I was first in, and noticed something odd... there was no one around. Just a very nice girl behind the ticket counter window, with a rather sad face forming as she saw me. Turns out this production was not being held at CMU. It was at a theater on the other side of town. :-(  That is my sad face... Turns out they made a fair effort to let everyone know this, but when they said 'It is at the New Hanzlet Theater!' That did not really register, for all I knew the Theater at CMU was named that... They were kind enough to let us get refunds and to switch to the next weeks show.

This would be effort 3 that I have made to see a show at CMU. And this would be the third time I was shut down. Every single time I try to go it gets progressively harder to see a show, the first time a few days before hand I was told they were sold out, the next time it was the day of. I could not catch a break.

Until today! Of the 7 who were there last Saturday, only 4 of us were able to find a time to go during the remaining run of the show. Tonight's crew was Sam, Tracey and Gwyn. We made sure to get there in enough time to drive to the other side of town if we needed to. When we walked in, the very nice girl who helped us the week before was there and exclaimed: 'Yay! You made it to the right place this time!'

The show is centered around a elementary spelling bee, with crazy students and crazy teachers. It is a highly amusing musical, I would strongly suggest it. And one thing they do is get audience members to also be contestants in the Bee. As in sit up on stage until they get out... the whole time interacting with the cast.

So before hand in the lobby, someone came around and asking people to participate. My friends graciously volenteered me for this role (or threw me under the bus), one which I cautiously took. And I was selected! I will not give away too much about the production, but I got to spend the first half of the show on stage. It was really fun! I got carted around for the musical numbers and I was required to help with some of  the acting.

Some of you nay-sayers (Mother...) have pointed out to me that I cannot spell very well. This is absolutely true. I cannot. My first word was: 'Mexican.' Don't worry. I nailed it. Second word was something that sounded like 'Albumgreekum' and meant something along the lines of poo and leather tanning.... I got it wrong :-( And got sung off stage. I got home an tried to look it up, I could not find anything that would help me. Somewhere in there the announcer gave me a nickname of 'Wolfman Jackson' Or something to that effect, a 13 year old with a beard.

It was a great show, and I am glad that persistence won out and I got to see a show! And being in the show was even better! So much fun!

In other news, last night Bart and I had a basketball evening at 'Brgr' (it is spelled that way...). It was originally intended to be Bart, myself and Gwyn's dad, but sadly he could not make it. So we asked Gwyn to come as a proxy for him... it was not quite the same. I wore all the GU stuff I had! But we didn't stay that late, we all had school/work the next day and GU was on at 11. But I did do some cheering for PITT! It was a great evening and a good cap to a stressful week. And Bart and Gwyn are great people to be around, there was not a humor-less moment. I should also say that the Mushroom burger I enjoyed there changed my perspective on hamburgers. It was a life changer. I have not had a more glorious hamburger. I know that is saying a lot, and I mean it. I have had a number of burgers, and most of the time, they all taste great. I really enjoy anything from backyard bbq burgers to The Onion to Five Guys... but this was magical. I think they may have cooked crack in to it....