That’s how it’s spelled. Passarelle.
Two S’s, two L’s, one R.
I have made a career of spelling it differently every single time I have to use the word, and even though I’m normally someone who insists on accuracy about things like that, I just stopped giving a damn and decided to throw an arbitrary number of double consonants at the word every time I type it.
Well I just ran across it in a theatrical glossary, and I’m going with that. If you’re interested, a passarelle is a ramp (which is the word most people use when they can’t spell passarelle) which extends from the stage around the orchestra pit.
I’ll use it in a sentence: “Hello, Dolly! at the Reagle Players, 2009, is the first production I’ve ever heard of that used a passarelle and didn’t have someone fall in the pit.”
Eventually I will muster up the enthusiasm to care whether or not there are two L’s in “travellator” (or “travelator,” if you will). I don’t believe there’s any consensus at Phantom, either. In fact, I’m sure I myself have used both spellings in performance reports. A Google search reveals that both seem to be used interchangeably, with the two-L version having more results, and most of them seeming to refer to one of those long treadmill-type things they have at airports, as opposed to an adjustable bridge suspended between two towers which can traverse upstage and downstage. So I guess I will continue to pick a spelling based on my mood of the day.
