Set in the Roaring Twenties, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes follows the madcap adventures of the original “dumb blonde,†Lorelei Lee, as she sets sail for Europe with her best friend Dorothy Shaw. As Dorothy puts it, the gold-digging Lorelei is “the only girl in the world who can stand on a stage with a spotlight in her eye and still see a diamond inside a man’s pocket.†Based on Anita Loos’ bestselling novel of the same name, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes made a star of Carol Channing on Broadway and later cemented Marilyn Monroe’s status as an American film icon and sex symbol in the 1953 screen version. “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend†is the crown jewel in a score that sparkles with songs like “Bye, Bye, Baby,†“A Little Girl from Little Rock†and “I Love What I’m Doing (When I’m Doing it for Love).†The original production, directed by John C. Wilson and choreographed by Agnes de Mille, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on December 8, 1949, and played a total of 740 performances.
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