What did this board think of Legally Blonde the musical?

[LipstickLola]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 10:08pm

Did you guys like it when it opened on broadway? I saw the tour and loved it.  Laura Bell Bundy looks like she was amazing live. So did you guys like the show? What did the critics think of the show?

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 10:13pm

It should've won the Pulitzer. 

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 10:28pm

I feel like it was in a really competitive season. EVERY thing was AMAZING. It did win best musical in the West End. I love the show. Especially the score. I've seen it on youtube about 20 times now

[Mr Smith]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 10:34pm

"I feel like it was in a really competitive season. EVERY thing was AMAZING. It did win best musical in the West End. I love the show. Especially the score. I've seen it on youtube about 20 times now "

 But it was 'so much better' in London

[darpierce]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 10:58pm

I thought it was fun and ran the length of time that one would think of. The cast was string and the material, amusing. There are many many other musicals with loftier ambitions that I would rather not see again- and this one, I found a relief. 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 11:30pm

I think it's a pretty great show adapted from a pretty great movie. The style is perfect for the material and it's just a very well done entertaining show. The original cast was very good in it also!

Sure it isn't anything high stakes or world changing but I love it.

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 5/25/15 at 11:56pm

 It's a cute and fun show! It's not one of the great American musicals by any means, but I think it does well what it was meant to do (which is to be a feel good show for kids).

[Just_John]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 12:02am

I also loved it.  Saw it quite a few times during the Broadway run, and even got invited for an awesome backstage tour by one of the cast members one time.  

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 5:40am

I found it to be an enjoyable, fun, night out with a score that's a lot better than many people give it credit for. Jerry Mitchell's choreography was also pretty great, too. 

The cast was uniformly good and it's interesting to think that two-time Tony nominee Andy Karl was an understudy in this show (and in fact, the first Emmett I ever saw).

Sadly, however, this was the show which inflicted Bailey Hanks on us all. 

Updated On: 5/26/15 at 05:40 AM

[Mr Smith]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 6:04am

"I found it to be an enjoyable, fun, night out with a score that's a lot better than many people give it credit for. Jerry Mitchell's choreography was also pretty great, too. 
The cast was uniformly good and it's interesting to think that two-time Tony nominee Andy Karl was an understudy in this show (and in fact, the first Emmett I ever saw).
Sadly, however, this was the show which inflicted Bailey Hanks on us all. "

 The problem I had why did Ellie Woods like that Jerk

[SweetLips]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 6:45am

You asked---possibly the worst, most boring, tuneless [I think,if I remember thinking at all, why hasn't the lead got a complete song to herself?] load of crap I've sat through.

I have an unhealthy reputation for leaving at interval but was subjected,because of others, to last the distance.

But then I didn't like Jersey Boys [the film was even worse-thank God for pirated Bali DVDs it only cost me .60c].

My all time fav.---Nine [not the movie].

[aj88]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 8:23am

When Legally Blonde was first announced, my first response was an eye roll. I had little hope for it and just saw it a very commercial and possibly crass venture.

I had liked the movie but not enough to generate much passion to see it.

However, I ended up seeing it with a very low priced ticket which was the only way you would have gotten me in that theatre.

This was early in the run, probably a couple of days before it opened and what I discovered was that the show wasn't bad, but actually quite enjoyable.

It was no great classic musical but I found the score to be very good for what it was and I thought the cast did very well.

The show wasn't without its detractors (I remember Michael Riedel spouting out venom towards it), but I normally credit Legally Blonde as the show that made me realize that maybe I shouldn't prejudge material so harshly....although very few shows since then have managed that turn around with me. The other show that I would place in this category and actually at an even stronger level is SHREK, which I went in dreading but came out impressed.

 

[acekatherineplumber2]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 8:29am

I thought it was a very fun show! I hate the song "Positive," though.

[Nickhutson]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 8:31am

I think it's a very finely crafted score.  The numbers do SO much on stage and a lot of new writers today can learn a lot from them - how to write a modern score that still works in every way it should. 

Sheridan gave an absolutely stellar performance early in the run until she lost her way toward the end and was told off for being too silly and not taking it seriously.  

I think it was a clever move to scale the show down to its bare essentials by Sonia - but I don't like how it's lead to a trend (Shrek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels etc).  

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 8:32am

It was cute, and pretty funny.  High art, it wasn't.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 8:58am

If you go back and read Michael Riedel's columns, he reported that the producers of Legally Blonde were desperate to get the fourth slot for a Tony nomination for Best Musical joining the three safe bets (Curtains, Grey Gardens, and Spring Awakening). There were also whispers that had they gotten the nomination, they probably would've been able to beat Spring Awakening for the award since the producers thought they would've had the road vote.

But the nominators (most of which are an older crowd) thought Legally Blonde was just cotton candy for teenage girls that was yet another example of dumbing down Broadway. So despite a lot mixed critical reviews, Mary Poppins ended up getting the fourth slot pretty much because the nominators didn't wanna snub Tom Schumacher two years in a row (as well as the fact that they thought it was much better than Tarzan).

Though the cast of Legally Blonde was invited to come perform on the Tonys, but was denied because the producers of the nominated shows feared they would be forced to give up valuable TV airtime to make room for Legally Blonde and LoveMusik...

Full Story Here

Updated On: 5/26/15 at 08:58 AM

[allyk]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 9:16am

I really enjoyed it. I saw it a few times on Broadway (the first being the MTV taping) and I was definitely the target demographic. Is it one of the greatest musicals of all time? No. But it's a fun two and a half hours. I was just in a production of the show last weekend at a theater that has a much older subscriber base, so I was very skeptical of how the show would be received (our biggest sellers in recent years have been Les Miz, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast and our subscriber/membership base has an average age of at LEAST 60 - there are 3 members under age 30 and all 3 of us, myself included, were in the show or on the crew...). While we didn't sell out, we definitely made a profit (our fourth performance was purely profit) and we had enthusiastic audiences each night and never heard a negative word about the show. We were also the first adult production in our area (a few local high schools have produced the show in the last year), so I wouldn't be shocked if it popped up at other theaters in the area in the coming seasons.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 9:38am

I think it's a show that has surprisingly gotten better with age. At the time, there were just so many feeble attempts at movie adaptations and LEGALLY BLONDE seemed to make a lot of people on the board like things were getting out of hand. I have to say I appreciated very little about the material that came out of the Broadway production (which I only saw as part of the MTV broadcast).

However, the London production seemed to highlight the best parts of the material, and it showed what a difference having a great comedian as Elle Woods elevates the show to a new level. Sheridan gives a tour de force in that live London recording (a top notch album all around). The songs are actually pretty clever and I think that, though it has its issues, it is indeed fun and it has some impressive sequences (the "What You Want" number uses the 'montage' element of the film expertly, "So Much Better" is a great Act One closer on Sheridan's hands, and both versions of the title number are effective). That London album really changed my perspective on the whole thing.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 9:53am

I actually think it's a rare occassion in which the musical weakens the source material and is at its strongest when sticking to the movie.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 10:01am

For me it was one giant "meh".

I love O'keefe, but even his score bored me.

The best part was Andy Karl's UPS guy.

 

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 10:31am

That was right around the time I joined the board. As I remember not many people were talking about it; the bulk of that year's conversation was devoted to Spring Awakening. Aside from 2009 that was really my favorite Tony season in recent memory.

I saw it in July of 2007. At that point I was still very, very new to the theatre, but even then I knew it wasn't anything special.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 10:57am

The Michael Riedel article that Jeffrey referenced says something about a tradition of only shows being nominated for Best Musical or Revival being allowed to perform on the show. I've only been watching the Tony's since I was 16 (the last 8 years), but I've never noticed this tradition. I specifically recall as early as just last year performances breaking this tradition: Idina Menzel performing from If/Then, Alan Cumming and the cast of Cabaret, Jennifer Hudson performing from Finding Neverland and Gladys Knight singing with Fantasia Barrino and Patti LaBelle. Is it safe to say that the tradition referred to 8 years ago is no longer a thing?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 11:01am

It was an overlong, bloated confection with few redeeming qualities.

There was some exciting choreography and one or two semi-solid performances, but the book and lyrics were as trite as trite can be and the score was like a form of theatrical waterboarding.

It was rightfully lost in the shuffle that year.

I see that this show is being produced at an awful lot of schools and community theaters, so at least it has had some life after Broadway.

All in all, though, it was like getting a fruit punch colonic.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 11:03am

As far as screen-to-stage comedy adaptations go it's one of the better ones. As with Laurence O'Keefe's "Bat Boy" I found there were some songs that went into regular rotation on my playlist and others that I never need to hear again.

Both scores have terrific act one closers (Comfort and Joy, So Much Better) and fairly lousy act two closers (Apology to a Cow/Finale, Find My Way).

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/26/15 at 11:41am

to the op: instead of continuing to start these threads about shows in recent history, if you just search for the title, you'll see the original threads about them == all which will go into much more detail then you get here.