Laura Bell Bundy and the Note

[theminutepast]

Why do you think Laura Bell Bundy is no longer able to hit the C# at the end of "So Much Better?" It seems strange that she was able to do it for so long but in the past several months has struggled to do it consistently. Did she strain her voice or something?

[allofmylife]

BECAUSE SHE CARRIES THE ENTIRE FRIGGING SHOW ON HER SHOULDERS.

She is on stage for 90% of the show and probably speaks/sings 50 of the dialogue/music in the show.

Give her a break.

YOU try hitting that note night after night AFTER running a marathon.

[theminutepast]

Why do you assume I am being critical?

I'm curious because I am learning to sing and I love learning about other singers and voice problems that can arise.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Well, she's singing her t*ts off the whole first act and she just doesn't seem prepared.
I hear after the two and a half weeks of strike she is doing better.
I don't understand why the musical director is not giving her an alternative to take when she is vocally tired.
She's a spitfire who just won't rest, Bless her heart!
I'm curious to hear how how Haven does when she goes on.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

*waits for thread to be deleted*

[maya5892]

Haven's an official understudy? I didn't know that!
Well, she is able to carry Take Me or Leave Me (check that site) so I'm sure she's great

[CurtainPullDowner]

Yup.

[allofmylife]

The minutepast, I'm going apoplectic because I've heard this question (which is often used as a dig against LBB) over and over again and I am getting a little tired of it.

I love this show - call me tasteless but I really love it. It's fun. It's mindless, yes, but there are some touching moments and I find some of the score haunting and the lyrics very, very clever - for a mindless show a great accomplishment.

I watch the MTV film every week and it always brings a smile to my face.

And in these times, while I'm on strike and Bush is trying to start another war and my love life is pretty crappy, Legally Blonde makes me happy and LBB makes me smile and I don't care HOW MANY notes she blows.

Thus endith the rant.

[maya5892]

Allofmylife, you are my life.

Everything you say I agree with. It's fun, damn it! Haha but really poor LBB because she sings so much and hitting that kind of note after performing so much is horrible for your vocal chords, and she pushes through it...MAD PROPS

[stagescreen]

At least it isn't sweetened/dubbed...

I agree, allofmylife, though. She is one helluva trooper to carry that show on her shoulders. She is rarely off stage!

[ohjustjake]

I don't know why she isn't able to hit it, especially since later in the show she hits notes much higher in her belt. But i hope that is better now because it's a shame that it hasn't been in tune for a while - i mean, you don't want to end act 1 on a sour note... pun intended. I don't even know if that is a pun.

[dramarama2]

It is actually the notes before "The Note" that through her off - "Then Be-" (E & D). Because she has to strain to hit those notes which are pushing her range, the "-fore" (C#) is sometimes off. Talking to Laura Bell, James Sampliner apparently came up with an alternative during rehearsals (a variation 1 octave lower), but she was told by the composers not to use it in an actual performance...

[CATSNYrevival]

I don't understand why they don't prerecord it. Christine's note at the end of the title song in Phantom of the Opera is prerecorded. Why would this be any different? I would prefer to hear a recording of her hitting the right note in a studio then sitting in the theatre listening to her hit the wrong one live.

[Jess925]

IT IS?

[AKDPerformer]

Its refreshing and reassuring to know that even the best aren't perfect. :)

You want vocals that convey being hard to hit every night?
Refer to Idina in Wicked.

[blaxx]

BECAUSE SHE CARRIES THE ENTIRE FRIGGING SHOW ON HER SHOULDERS.

She is on stage for 90% of the show and probably speaks/sings 50 of the dialogue/music in the show.

Give her a break.

YOU try hitting that note night after night AFTER running a marathon.

Sorry, dear, but that's no excuse. Is she just can't, then maybe the part has been proven too hard and she should alternate.
But I don't think it's justified that she struggles with it like that. It may not be her fault, I cannot even imagine doing what she does every week, but she's getting pretty awful at singing it.

[bebe de broadway]

hehe you can see my roommate and I in the MTV recording at the beginning of the bows when they pan through the front row. They pan RIGHT in front of our faces. The claps were staged, so my roommate's like, "oooh camera" and I look like I'm actually clapping for the show.

*random*

Though in the MTV Broadcast, they didn't post her singing the end of the song as she did on the date of recording. It's edited. Because that note was incredibly flat... painfully so. I really enjoyed her performance, but hope she isn't doing permenant damage to her voice.

[allofmylife]

Then it's cruel of the producers and musical director to make her go through that. It's true there are all sorts of technical remedies and one hopes they fix it. But I still have to give the girl full props for her performance. Look at how much she does in Act One. Look at the number of songs and dances she does. And reams of dialog.

Back in the day, the great Broadway stars had either singing or dancing - a few did both - but there are also a comedian and a co-star to carry some of the load. Ethel Merman made her bones in "Girl Crazy" with exactly three numbers. And nobody asked her to dance, did they?

Our modern "triple threats" may be reaching the edge of the envelope.

[bebe de broadway]

Oh absolutely. Look at the throat shattering extremes singers are asked to push themselves to now. Yes. Some are extremely lucky and have the ability to scream out E's and F's but a lot of aspiring actresses (and even those with jobs) are harming themselves. Yes. There are belt songs in classic Musical repertoire, but nothing like today's shows. I feel like a lot changed with the introduction of Mic's to the Broadway stage. And definitely not all of it for the better. But the reliance on mics to amplify sound is a different gripe all together. (I hate going to see a show and not being able to hear someone on Broadway over the orchestra. Ala CHORUS LINE when I saw it).

Either way, I hope Laura Bell Bundy (and her vocal chords) get the rest she/they need. I'd like to continue to see her in years to come.

[mywonderwa11]

Don't get me wrong...I enjoy Legally Blonde. I have fun when I see it...I saw it on Sunday and had a lot of fun. But...I do not think Laura Bell Bundy is greatly talented. Yes, she is cute on stage and yes, she may play the role alright. But vocally, she is not up to par. I think she is adorable, but I am not a fan of Laura Bell Bundy for her talent because if that was the case then I probably wouldn't be a fan.

[ahmelie]

I'm sorry, if she can't hit that note after "carrying the whole first act" than they need to find someone who can, I'm sure there are hundreds of girls out there.

If the ladies playing Evita can hit a G at the end of the first act, I'm sure Laura Bell can hit a C#.

[Yankeefan007]

Not necessarily. The ladies playing Evita are, well, better than Laura Bell Bundy. Bundy isn't a bad singer, but she's not as strong as, say, Kristin Chenoweth or Kerry Butler or even Megan Hilty.

The problem is that, like the composer of Evita, the Legally Blonde team has no concept of writing for singers. It's like they were using finale notepad and said "hey, let's make the last note really high so we can see how far off the page it goes!!" (which is how I swear Webber wrote Phantom and Evita.)

If Sampliner came up with a new version and was shot down by the composers, it's their fault. Bundy can't help it, she's just the star. She may have a pixelated version of her face in Times Square, but she's not big enough yet to make demands on the production team. Perhaps that's why she was hired to begin with...

[Kalimba]

The one you want to see as Elle is Becky Gulsvig. So much better in the role than LBB and at least she can hit the note.

[defyingravity11]

I've seen LBB twice in Legally Blonde, once in Wicked, and once in Hairspray and more often than not she has vocal problems. True, her covers aren't doing the role all week, but if they can all hit that note with no problem, I don't see any legit excuse for LBB expect that she just can't handle the vocal demands of the role. Also, both times I saw her live that note was the least of her problems; the second act had plenty of rough patches.

[songanddanceman2]

I have seen this quite a few times (on stage and on other formats) and i must be the only one who has never heard her miss this note.

I think the problem is not so much the note but its the run up to that note where its a problem