Not Your Traditional Spelling Bee
The sentence “I’m going to a spelling bee this weekend” is one that can usually only be met with looks of confusion and/or concern if you’re a grown adult, but if you’re in Montreal, chances are that the other person will say, “Oh, I know someone who’ll be spelling there!”
This is how my friend and I wound up at the aptly named Spelling Bee of the Century—a show that I was determined to go into as blind as possible. The format, competitive spelling featuring four musical acts from across Canada, drew me in from the very beginning. I didn’t need to hear any more information, only see it with my own eyes.
It was clear from the second we reached La Sala Rossa that this wasn’t going to be anything like the spelling bees I’d seen in middle school. A dunk tank with a (fake) baby greeted us at the front entrance, next to an inflatable dancing tube man energetically gesturing for us to get upstairs to the show. Someone handed us bingo sheets as we headed up the stairs. And when we walked into the actual theatre, bees galore. I mean it. There were the cutest papier-mâché bees decorating virtually every surface: hanging from the ceiling above the bar, chilling at the merch table, peeking out from the stage. All the props, in fact, looked like they were similarly handmade; I was immediately charmed.
The masterminds behind this DIY spectacle are the predominantly LGBTQ+ Montreal collective iWant2BeOnTV, as part of the 26th edition of Suoni Per Il Popolo, a festival dedicated to highlighting some of the city’s most experimental and exploratory works. It’s hard to summarise exactly what the show is: it’s theatre, it’s a concert, it’s a spelling bee. It’s political commentary and it’s a little bit unserious. It’s all being broadcast live. It’s fun.
Alex Apostolidis and Charvel Rappos were our hosts for the evening—as well as the show’s writers and directors—and they took to the stage with some killer dance moves to kick off the show. They played off each other in a way I can only describe as charmingly awkward. At several moments I had to wonder if they were following a script or if everything was improvised; either way, I was laughing along. There were a few technical difficulties as the show went on, but none that took away from the event, or my overall enjoyment.
The structure of The Spelling Bee of the Century was set up, by all measures, like a traditional spelling bee—if a traditional spelling bee included increasingly absurd challenges involving butterflying a chicken and gargling gasoline while spelling, followed by dubiously ethical punishments for failing to complete said tasks. (Hey, I got to tick “somebody gets spanked” off my bingo sheet!)
Each of the characters (or spellers, I should say) brought their own flavour of weirdness to spice up the show. I was especially tickled by Matisse ApSimon-Megens and Nicky Fournier playing Mickey, a pair of conjoined twins going by just one name and bringing some excellent physical humour to the table. Spencer Dorsey’s performance was another standout. The “consequencers,” a.k.a. the bloodthirsty devils carrying out all punishments decreed by the hosts, ended up stealing the show—played unforgettably by Peter “Puggy” Beales and Krystyn “KK” Kumor.
While the spelling and performance aspects were extremely entertaining, the brightest stars of the night for me were the musical acts. All of them came on without introduction, each at a more unexpected moment than the last. The first one to take to the stage was Fraud Perry, and there couldn’t have been a better choice for an opening act—she had the entire crowd dancing from her first song. Mixing together elements of punk, hip-hop, and dance pop, Perry’s stage presence was nothing short of magnetic. She was on it.
The next performance segment was followed by Bastard Idol, grabbing everyone’s attention with thrashy guitar and throaty screams and about as much headbanging as you’d expect. It was 20 minutes straight of raw, unadulterated punk. As the stakes of the spelling bee got higher and higher—without giving too much away, someone was getting dunked—Culvert Corpse broke the tension with some more distorted, filthy sounds blasting through the speakers. Flying in from Nova Scotia, the band brought their black metal and punk influences to the stage with a high-energy performance.
As the spelling bee finally came to an end, after all the horrors experienced by the participants, with winners declared, the closing band took to the stage. Laughing capped off the night with melodic indie rock, playing from their debut album “Because It’s True.” The crowd swayed along to their catchy hooks and upbeat instrumentals, often at odds with more somber lyrics. They closed out with an energetic jam-out, ending the night on the highest of high notes.
Even after experiencing it myself, I struggle to put into words everything that The Spelling Bee of the Century encompassed within just a few hours. It’s one of the most fun ways that I’ve seen any kind of performance or concert play out—it kept you guessing every minute, and rewarded you for your patience. It made you question all your expectations of what a “normal” show should be like. It didn’t try to put itself in a box, so I won’t do it the injustice of trying to summarise it neatly, either. I’ll just invite you to watch for yourself.
