Who's seeing Legally Blonde Tour opening night today?

[wicked4l]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 3:20pm

Anyone going? what were the set changes like?

[andrewcomp]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 3:37pm

Does Becky still suck?

[Kelly2]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 3:47pm

The tour opens tonight? I thought it was Tuesday.

And Becky's very talented.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 3:48pm

I'd like to hear how Rhiannon is as Margot.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 3:57pm

On the tour blog, it has a clip of how Omigod You Guys is staged. Here is the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aU7F4zGx54&eurl=http://legallyblondetour.blogspot.com/

Here is what the "store" looks like when Elle first appears:



The Harvard Admissions office looks a little more complex:

[wicked4l]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 7:52pm

anyone?lol

[BroadwayMelody]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 9:37pm

I'm going on Tuesday, but I did drive by the theater today and Jerry Mitchell and some cast memebers were outside behind the theater. I did a complete double take and almost hit the car in front of me!

[donnak]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 9:59pm

Well, I just got home and I absolutely LOVED it! I am not a LB "expert", having only seen it once before in NY with my D - sitting in the front row in student rush seats. You tend to miss a lot when you sit that close. Tonight, H and I were in 6th row Center Orchestra (upgraded by the house manager who is a friend of H) and it was great. I thought Becky was terrific, as was the rest of the cast. The Greek Chorus was excellent, and I thought Riannon was great. It was fun seeing her and Lauren on stage live - they were 2 of my favorites during the MTV show. I didn't realize how much Margot interacts with the dog - LOL! BTW - the two dogs are also "stars-in-the-making"! The one little glitch that I noticed was at the end of the Harvard personal essay scene when the 2 large flags with Elle and Warner's faces on them got tangled up and you couldn't see the faces. It was kind of funny, and you could see some of the cast laughing. But that was the only "mistake" I noticed. The audience loved it, and were very generous with their applause at the end and the entire theatre was on their feet. The energy of the cast was electric and it showed throughout the show. It is such a fun, feel-good show and I think all-in-all, it was a big hit! Jerry Mitchell opened the show by greeting the audience from the stage. Right before the orchestra began, you could hear the kids backstage give a little cheer. Again, I'm not an expert but I think they all gave a super performance. Best of luck on the rest of the run (I'm seeing it again on Saturday night when D comes home for the weekend!)

[broadwayboy522]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:07pm

Could you tell us how it was with the set changes? How was it with the cast pushing all of the sets? Any other things other than the house missing?

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:20pm

I'm dieing to know how the show did without the tracks & trap door.

[donnak]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:26pm

Well, again, I'm really not that familiar with the NY production having only seen it once, but I didn't find it strange that the cast did a lot of the set moving - having been in lots of shows myself over the years that have done it. It did seem strange not having the house there in the beginning and no stairs - the girls just formed a straight line as they passed the book to Becky. Wasn't there also a scene when the girls appear in windows? That was out, too. I missed seeing Elle rise up from the trap door in the beginning, too, but to those who haven't seen the original - they won't miss these changes in the least. Everything was very well done, albeit on a smaller scale.
Updated On: 9/22/08 at 10:26 PM

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:32pm

We all new that the windows were taken out, but did they sing the lyrics as they would have they been in windows? How was NJJ? Did she have a blonde wig?

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:46pm

This is SUCH a silly fangirl question - especially for a 21-year-old - but is Lauren recognizable while wigged? I know which line she has in "Omigod..." but could you tell who she is visibly?

[NGD2225]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:49pm

If she is wearing the wig Becky did on Broadway, she is the red head with a flip.

[wicked91]

Posted: 9/21/08 at 10:57pm

Hi there! I just have a few questions that hopefully you'll be able to answer regarding the automation and set changes.

- How did they do the "Don't take the freeway! Hey wait for me!" outfit change during OMIGOD YOU GUYS?
- How did Elle make her entrance?
- What did they do for WHAT YOU WANT since the huge staircase is gone.
- How did the greek chorus enter?
- Were there any other major set changes? ( I noticed a lot of pics with these giant white columns.)

THANKS!!!!!!

[Colleenya]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 7:19am

I was going to wait till I got home from work tonight to post, I will answer a couple of the questions above now, and then some more later.

"Wait for me!" was a run out from stage right, a cartwheel back to offstage, and a cartwheel back on. Kinda cute.

The opening was a bit of a disappointment to me, I really missed the windows. Elle's entrance is the "store window" pushed onstage behind clothing racks. Not bad.

Standout performances were Becky, of course, that role is now HER role! Loved Natalie as Paulette, I absolutely ADORED Megan Lewis as Vivienne! What a set of pipes on that girl! And SO BITCHY! LOL!

I chatted with Lauren Zakrin for a moment at the stage door, what a sweet girl, as is Rhiannon (I asked her for a hug when she asked me to take a picture of her family.)
Rhiannon, as Bernie Telsey said on the MTV show, is "very watchable"....I was always drawn to watch her in the Delta Nu scenes.

I was chatting with the people sitting next to me, and told them that this was my 3rd time seeing the show. They asked me if the show last night was as "good as Broadway". To THAT I say,
ABSOLUTELY!!!!

[ejgirls89]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 7:33am

having seen the show in NY wayyyy too many times..

- How did they do the "Don't take the freeway! Hey wait for me!" outfit change during OMIGOD YOU GUYS?
some guy came on with a bathrobe and ran off

- How did Elle make her entrance?
she came through a curtain where she normally comes up, it worked though

- What did they do for WHAT YOU WANT since the huge staircase is gone.
they did pretty similar dance moves, they just didnt use the staircase, it didnt look weird though i dont think

- How did the greek chorus enter?
im not positive on this one because i couldnt see that wel (i was on the very side) but i think they just walked on, but it was still good

- Were there any other major set changes? ( I noticed a lot of pics with these giant white columns.)
the sets look pretty much the same, although they did take out a lot of sets (the house, the doorway to her room) her room is also smaller, instead of going behind a curtain to change she goes offstage

im running late for class but i have lots to share when i get back!!!!!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 7:39am

Does Lauren basically have Autumn's part and sing "Elle and Warner were meant to be"?

[ejgirls89]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 7:50am

lauren has that part {"leilani"} and the stenographer..theyre short a lot of people versus the broadway cast, so she has a bigger role

another thing i remembered about the delta nu's - when they come out for bend and snap, they came from behind the chairs which was veryy cute!

ok and one last thing before i go to class - they changed some of the lyrics (if anyone reads the blog they know what they are) but ill post them: "Fighting is not Delta NU, plus who knows what the heck she'll do. Some preppy ass J. Crew Kung Fu...whose got a plan B?"

they did this for a reason -- becky isnt as tall as the other elles, and vivienne is taller..so becky thought instead of saying shes twice her size (since shes not) people might think shes calling her fat..so they changed it to be nice! haha

PMS girls rocked. rhiannon was SUCH a good margot {i miss annaleigh as margot so seeing rhiannon reminded me of that!} and OMG cortney. she was FANTASTIC. i cant even explain it to you, she pulled off serena SOOOO well!!!!! and shes one of the most genuine actors ive ever met in my life!!

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:00am

Thanks so much for your thoughts! I was very curious to hear how the show went. Glad you enjoyed it.

[ejgirls89]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 10:04am

i loved pretty much everything about it except for 1 actor, who shall remain nameless because i dont want to be mean! but he/she wasnt up to par with what i thought he/she should have been and it was quite dissapointing

seeing natalie joy johnson as paulette was so weird because im used to her as enid, but she pulled the role of really really well! i asked her after who she liked playing better and she said she loved both, theyre so different obviously - she had big shoes to fill but she did it well!

oh and when bruiser came on stage he wouldnt bark at first so rhiannon was like bruiser! speak! and he did hahah

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 12:07pm

I have not seen the show live but have the MTV airing on tape. Are they scaling the show down for technical reasons? I have seen some touring productions with much larger sets than Legally Blonde. I can understand the lift not being used but I don't see why they took out some of the other things. The house and windows that open the show are pretty cool and one of my favorite parts of the show is the way Elle leans back on the railing of the stairs as she is going down during "What You Want". (I think that the right title). I think I will skip the tour if it comes here and just see it in New York if it is still open whenever I get back to NYC.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 12:13pm

Some of these design changes puzzle me. They seem to have been done strictly for the purpose of saving money.

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 12:29pm

That's what I was thinking. I thought back to when Showboat toured and they had massive sets. We have a huge theater with losts of space and they still had to use the space in the theater next door. And Legally Blonde's sets appear to be a bit "sparse" (for lack of a better term) as it is.

[ejgirls89]

Posted: 9/22/08 at 12:44pm

it didnt look horrible without the sets, but they dont have huge sets to begin with..i think they pulled it off pretty well - the house scene was my least favorite scene because of the lack of house, but i thought they pulled off things like legally blonde (instead of at the door its in the courtroom) idk i liked it