The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee— unforgettable musical show

This Wednesday I watched the rehearsal of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Although it was only a rehearsal, the actors revealed their professional acting skills and their passion toward the musical playing.

At the beginning of the musical, there were some problems about the light, clothes, and props. However, the actors were not affected by the little errors. They followed the plan perfectly and shown the audiences the best of themselves.

One of the most interesting points of this musical is its character setting. there were almost ten characters on the stage, and all of them had distinctive characteristics. Olive Ostrovsky was a shy girl who longing for company and friends; William was a boy with magic foot who allergic to peanut; Logainne was a young girl who was restricted by her father; Marcy Park was almost perfect, but she quit the competition by herself contentedly; Leaf Coneybear had a big family and hilarious behaviours; Charlito was the champion of the last competition, but he lost the first this year.

From all of these plump characters, I personally like Leaf Coneybear the most.This was a very lovely character, which means the actor must totally released herself into the setting of this character. In the scene where Leaf faced difficulty of spelling, he started a song of monologue, and explained his special way of spelling.He danced around the judges, and faced the audiences to express his feelings. He rushed everywhere as a crazy boy, then kneeled on the floor to show his sadness. At that moment, It felt like the whole stage belonged to him. The actor  of Leaf Coneybear was a girl. She energised every cell in her body to give her character life. On of the most important lessons for actors is to liberate their nature, and I think this girl fully interpreted it with her excellent acting skills.

Contacting with audiences was also a shining point of this musical. First, the judge chose three audiences randomly to be the competitors with actors. They would be given the same kind of words, and spelled them as the actors did. This setting tactfully reduced the distances between audiences and the stage. When I sat under the stage, I thought I was really watching a spelling competition instead of a musical show. After Charlito lost, he was appointed to sell the snackers. He walked onto the stage with the snacker box, and talked with the audience. It rapidly catches the audiences back from the intermission and established a more relaxing atmosphere.

Besides the actors and settings of this musical, other members in this group were also very respectful. Students who played the background music had practiced for more than two weeks. Although they did not show up on the stage, their amazing performances earned them endless applauses. The delicate stage setting also catches my eyes. The background, arrangement, and the Thailand painting and other uncountable details all shown me how careful this musical group were.

Although the musical show only lasted about two hours, the beauty it took me, and every fantastic scene that was unfolded in front of my eyes were unforgettable. 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one-act musical comedy about a spelling competition. The competition is held in a middle school, six students are very strong competitors with different styles. This musical is hilarious but also heartwarming because some emotional parts of the competition.Before watching this musical, the characters interest me a lot.

There are three “teacher” in the competition. Rona Lisa Peretti, who was a former Spelling Bee champion herself. She loves children very much, especially the moment before the competition, when everyone is full of joy. Vice Principal Douglas Panch is a returning judge after his absence for five years. He likes Rona, but she does not return his affections. This part of setting attracts my attention, because it shows me that this musical does not only focus on the Spelling bee competition,but also on the relationships between the characters. It makes the whole story more catching and interesting. Mitch Mahoney is a Comfort Counsellor who hands out juice box to losing students.

Besides the teachers, the competitors are all from different background with distinctive characteristics. Olive Ostrovsky is a newcomer. Her mother always works very late; one of her best friends—dictionary helps her to be competitive in the Spelling bee. William Morris Barfee was a Spelling Bee finalist last year. However, he eliminated because of an allergic reaction to peanuts. Logainne is the youngest among all the students, but she often makes comments about some political figures. Marcy Park is almost a “perfect” girl. She speaks six languages and plays some instruments. Now, she is even tired of wining. Leaf Coneybear is a boy comes from a large family, who is easily distracted. Charlito was the champion of the Twenty fourth Spelling bee, and he returns to defend his title.

Unlike most of the musicals and plays, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee also has interaction with the audiences. It could stimulate an active atmosphere and shorten the distance between audiences and the actors. I am looking forward to watch this special musical!

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes

Listened as the crowd would sing

Now the old king is dead long live the king

One minute I held the key

Next the walls were closed on me

And I discovered that my castles stand

Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing

Roman cavalry choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

Missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain

Once you'd gone there was never

Never an honest word

And that was when I ruled the world

It was a wicked and wild wind

Blew down the doors to let me in

Shattered windows and the sound of drums

People couldn't believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait

For my head on a silver plate

Just a puppet on a lonely string

Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing

Roman cavalry choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain

I know St Peter won't call my name

Never an honest word

But that was when I ruled the world

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing

Roman cavalry choirs are singing

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can't explain

I know St Peter won't call my name

Never an honest word

But that was when I ruled the world

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

Field trips--too important to be canceled

Recently, Cheshire Academy proposed canceling all the field trips to save money and lower tuition fees. As my point of view, learning from places out of campus would be an excellent experience for the students, and money should not be the obstacle that stops the precious knowledge. Therefore, I do not regard canceling field trips as a good plan for Cheshire Academy.  

First of all, field trips are also a part of the course content, and canceling them would erase the chance for students to contact with a bigger world. Sitting in the classroom and listen to the words come out of teachers' mouths might be the most ordinary scene in every high school students' life. They learn from talking, listening, watching, and thinking under the teachers' guides. However, those practices in the classrooms are only for the outsiders. Students do not have the chance to really understand this complicated world from resources other than their teachers or the text books. Students need feeling, and involving. Take myself as an example, when I was learning painting in China, my teacher kept telling me how gorgeous Monet's skills were. I studied his works and imitated his style. Nonetheless, everything I learned from hundreds of art classes has been changed three months ago. When I went to the art museum with my art teacher in Cheshire Academy, I saw Monet's real work. Standing in front of the painting, I observed his millions of tiny strokes, they were solid and raised. I suddenly noticed how stupid I was to paint my strokes attached plainly on the paper. That field trip improved my painting skills a lot. The experience of filed trip could put students on the different side of knowledge, and help them to absorb the text book better.      

Second of all, canceling field trips would not save much money for Cheshire Academy, and parents would not mind to pay for their children's unique improvement. How much would a field trip cost? Cheshire Academy has its own buses and drivers, so it is easily to take students out without extra money cost. Moreover, most of field trips are in museums, which have the low or even no ticket price. Therefore, field trips do not need much amount of money to be supported. Most of parents have told their children:  " We would like to do everything for you." All parents wish their children could have some brilliant futures, which I argue is also why they sent their children to Cheshire Academy. As my point of view, a parent would not like to reduce their children's rights to study only for the tuition fee. Apparently, canceling field trips might not only save much less money than people thought, but also cause parents' disagreements. 

All in all, field trips are an important part for students in Cheshire Academy, and canceling them may not lead to the good result that school has suspected. Hence, do not erase students' chances to explore this world.    

 I have a special grey Persian cat named Gregory. He has pride and grace; He slowly lifts and lowers each paw while he walks, and that gesture always makes him feels like a dancer. His pride, however, does not show in his appearance, for most of the time he watches television and gets fat inside. He likes sinking himself into TV commercials, especially the Meow Mix and 9 Lives. After watching cat food commercials, instead of eating some kinds of cat food; he only prefers the most expensive feast . Gregory has the same cavil on visitors as he does on food. He makes friends with only certain part of people. He may snuggle up against your ankle, begging to be petted, or he may give you some mean bites. Gregory's behaviors are not for the establishment of his territory, as many cat experts think, but to humiliate me because his jealousy of my friends. After my guests' departure, I look at the fluffy old fleabag snoozing and smiling to himself in front of the TV, and I always forgive him for the obnoxious, but adorable things he has done.

The Twist Story Analysis

Last week, we all worked on our own twist stories. Each of us has very interesting twist and characters. From all of those stories, I like Nancy, Cherrie, and Nina’s the most.

First of all, unlike most of students, Nancy did not describe a certain person or object. She used the pollution as the protagonist, which is simple but novel. Moreover, when I first read her story, I did not notice the function of the first paragraph. However, after I read back and analysed it, I found out that the whole first paragraph applies a kind of neat and beautiful atmosphere. She wrote: “The light from the outside world stabbed my eyes, so I had to half open my eyes. “The ceiling was so clean, and I did not have a thought to get off my bed.” From this sentence, she successfully gave the readers a optimistic feeling, which implies the perfect weather. Nonetheless, she suddenly change the tone, and shown the foggy scene out of the window. Then the readers might think that the fog was just the ordinary water vapour. However, in the next paragraph, she introduced the real fog—pollution, by describing her reaction while opening the window. Nancy’s writing has many curves, which make the readers have the interest to keep reading, and its structure is also very compact.

Second of all, Cherrie’s “Mistaken Identity” is the one that most unforgettable. Her story is about a mistaken recognition. She regarded the shadows as her friend, and was angry about her friend’s indifferent attitude. My favourite part in this story is the second paragraph. Cherrie used a lot of mental description to highlight the “twist” part. Her angry and confusion are like bricks that she added to increase the tensity. “Did I do anything wrong? Why does she ignore me? I definitely feel extremely disappointed and heartbroken.” These two questions gave me a feeling that she was so sure the girl who did not answered her was her friend. She asked herself if she did something wrong. In this way, Cherrie even poured a little scary element into the story, which led me to keep wondering what happened. In the last paragraph, she pointed out that her friend was actually just arrived. However, she did not explain what was the black shadows. I argue that this unsolved question illuminated the ending, for it gave the readers more space to recall and think.

Last but not least, Nina’s story has the same twist with mine. However, our styles are very different. Nina focused more on the characteristics of the “ghost”, she described his outlook and position. “The man wears all black like The Lord Voldemort. He wears a hat, and it seems he is staring right at me. I can not see his face because of the darkness. The scariest part is that he is floating, which means he does not have legs.”While I read this part of description, the image of the “ghost” suddenly appeared in my head. Furthermore, facing a horrible night like this, her later description of her inner world and action also make the “ghost” believable. Many English teachers of mine told me to remember “showing not telling”, which means you should try your best to describe the atmosphere that you want to express, in stead of pile a bunch of adjectives. In this story, I think Nina did it.

All in all, each of these three writings has something I should learn. Their styles, words, and structures have many shining points, and I will also try to absorb those good part to improve my self in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzCphlUiCbE&feature=youtu.be