Laughter is the best medicine!

This year for my Birthday, Mom went for the experience rather than the tangible gift, much like my present of the Jeff Dunham Show from my husband.

So last Saturday night we ventured out to the Carousel Dinner Theater for a show. This is how it works for those of you that have never been; you arrive and are seated at your table. You order drinks (soda for us) and an appetizer. Then You are served dinner. When dinner is over, the show starts and during intermission you eat dessert. The food was terrific and the show was superb. It is nice that you are able to sit at your table during the show, so you have your drinks and snacks handy.

We saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". A batch of spelling ingénues have convened to the spelling thunderdome (aka the school gymnasium) to battle it out over who has what it takes to go on to the national spelling bee where words like "strabismus" are child's play. But over the course of spelling everything from "crepuscule" to "capybara," each in this cast of outcasts learns that winning isn't everything and losing doesn't make them a loser.

There's William Barfee (pronounced "bar-fey" but frequently mispronounced by the event's judges. Felled by a lone peanut during a snack break at last year's competition, Barfee and his "magic foot" are out for h-e-m-o-g-l-o-b-i-n. The judges keep calling him Barfee and he gets so mad, his magic foot 'spells' the word on the floor, so the peanut last year brought him down and this year - lets just say that he had issues again. Maybe he should get a magic finger?!


Standing in his way are overextended perfectionist Marcy Park, trippy hippie Leaf Coneybear (and his cape of many colors), the politically and socially correct Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (cheered on by her two dads) and the lonely Olive Ostrovsky, whose only friend is her trusty dictionary.

Especially good are Tyler Lee as the hormonally challenged winner of last year's bee, Chip Tolentino - he was also our waiter!!!, and Sarah Armstrong, who ith stupendeth as the lispy, burgeoning activist Logainne.

Throughout the heated rounds, cast members are picked off, and then dragged off the stage by the juice box-wielding "comfort counselor" - he was on parole doing his community service.


The guy on the right with the soccer ball was our waiter 'Chip'; excellent actor, mediocre waiter!

We had the best time and hope to go back later this summer for another show - with Mom in tow! We laughed so hard I snorted and I even heard laughter from the strong silent man seated next to me!