Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Friday, May 25, 2007

The Night Legally Blonde Wasn't

The Night Legally Blonde Wasn't

One of the best things about the Internet and blogs is that you can learn all sorts of great information that "mainstream" news outlets wouldn't ordinarily share.

One of my Daily Blog Reads is the lovely and effervescent Sarah B. at Adventures In The Endless Pursuit Of Entertainment. I mean, with a name like that, it just has to be entertaining!

Yesterday, she shared the following experience after seeing Legally Blonde that I just had to pass along:

During the "Bend And Snap" number, Laura Bell (Bundy)'s wig came off. She picked it up and held it in her hands for a moment before putting it back on. She broke the
fourth wall when she turned to the audience and said, "So much for Legally Blonde." The audience went wild by jumping to their feets and screaming. The music continued, but the cast lost it for at least five minutes. It was my first time to see this on Broadway. Sure, accidents happen but it's up to the cast to continue on. They almost couldn't. The audience ate it up because of course, it makes them even more connected with what's happening on stage -- a once in a lifetime that can never be repeated.

Hold on to your hat, Sarah, because I'm offering you a hat tip of my own. You've helped underscore yet another reason why I flip my wig over the spontaneity of live theatre any day -- including a show I don't care for -- over most stuff on the silver screen.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.

Tony Box Office Bumps (May 21, 2007)

Legally Blonde (The SOB Review) (May 8, 2007)

Did Critics You Know Like Totally Blonde? (April 30, 2007)
Legally Blonde Comes Of Age Tonight (April 29, 2007)
Dye Is Cast For Legally Blonde Reviews (February 8, 2007)
Coming Of Age: Legally Blonde Opens In San Francisco (February 6, 2007)
M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)
Which New Broadway Musical Are You Most Enthusiastic About Seeing? (October 16, 2006)
A Place Where Nobody Dared To Go...Until Now: They Call It Xanadu (July 18, 2006)
Broadway Bound to Get Nuttier with More Movie Adaptations Turned Musicals (June 7, 2006)

Labels: Adventures In The Endless Pursuit Of Entertainment, Blogs, Broadway, Film, Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde, Musical

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Legally Blonde (The SOB Review)

Legally Blonde (The SOB Review) - Palace Theatre, New York, NY

** (out of ****)

Oh my…God help us.

I realize that Legally Blonde has, like, totally captured the hearts of many an audience member (especially the tween-to-teen set), but the allure of this latest film-to-fluff fare for the stage escapes me. You know a show is in trouble when the most appreciative audience response is reserved for the dogs.

About halfway through the first act of Legally Blonde, the talented but misused Orfeh sings the incongruous tune “Ireland” that includes the prescient line, “I don’t know where this metaphor is going.” That line neatly captured my frustration with this over-the-top ode to girlie girldom power that chose several bizarre tangents to veer off toward.

For every genuinely clever line in the book by Heather Hach -- and there were several like the one where Harvard admissions discussed reasons for letting this blonde bombshell into school: "diversity" -- there was a groan-worthy tune from Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin (like "Serious" that sounds more like a retread from Saturday Night Fever or "There! Right There!" that I'll get back to in a moment) or serious misstep.

Including in the choreography by Jerry Mitchell, who’s usually, like, you know, really superb at this sort of thing. I'm a huge fan of his previous efforts, but the moves here work more like a hybrid of “Bring It On" and Riverdance. Perhaps he was just a bit too busy adjusting to his additional role -- his first time as a director.

Of all people, Mitchell should know better than to exacerbate gay stereotypes. Whether providing the dykiest of lesbians or the nelliest of hairdressers or the complicit conspirators in the tedious “There! Right There!" number that tries to discover whether a potential perjurer is gay or European, it’s a surprise that GLAAD hasn’t been knocking the show. It was appalling.

As for Hach's book, there was little other than the memory of Reese Witherspoon in the movie to help the audience understand why everyone in the show -- including the aforementioned Harvard admissions team -- was so readily capable of making the huge leap toward loving the lead character of Elle Woods.

Don't get me wrong, the lovely Laura Bell Bundy does what she can with the part, and she's a terrific singer and dancer, but the book does her quite a disservice. For example, we're to believe that this perfectly dressed, well-coiffed Elle will take the advice of the poorly-dressed, wrong-side of the tracks hairdresser Paulette (Orfeh) whom she just met?

Of course, there's so much energy and exuberance that you can't blame the audience for getting whipped into a frenzy, including on numbers like "Whipped Into Shape" -- another tangential number that only marginally moves the story along. The use of the Delta Nu Greek chorus throughout the show is inspired. And I confess that I'm simply unable to get the tune "Omigod You Guys" out of my mind (please! Make it stop!!).

But I much prefer Legally Blonde - The Film.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.

Legally Blonde Comes Of Age Tonight (April 29, 2007)

Dye Is Cast For Legally Blonde Reviews (February 8, 2007)

Coming Of Age: Legally Blonde Opens In San Francisco (February 6, 2007)

M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)

Which New Broadway Musical Are You Most Enthusiastic About Seeing? (October 16, 2006)

A Place Where Nobody Dared To Go...Until Now: They Call It Xanadu (July 18, 2006)

Broadway Bound to Get Nuttier with More Movie Adaptations Turned Musicals (June 7, 2006)

Labels: Broadway, Film, Jerry Mitchell, Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde, Musical, The SOB Review