Legally Blonde Blooper 4/10/07

[WilliamT]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 12:13am

Just got back from seeing Legally Blonde tonight. LOVED the entire show from start to finish! The cast is SO energetic and happy to be there, it's WONDERFUL!

Such a hot bed of incredible performers who are 100% present in every moment of the show. Every ensemble member has a backstory for every character and it shows. Great great work!

Laura Bell Bundy has such an amazing voice! So strong and rich and full of variation. Not your typical Amber/Glinda voice. This girl has so many tricks up her sleeve, I can't wait to see what she pulls out next.

2 Bloopers that happened tonight - In Elle's Room the months change via a giant calendar on her wall, and after if flipped to December it then jumped to April. It seemed like a mistake at first but then they never came back to her room to deal with "April".
The other blooper stoped the show. The bulldog came onstage with Andy Carl for his scene as the UPS guy with Orfeh. Poor pup got to center stage and barfed. Andy Carl grabed as much of it as he could with the squirell and then continued. They did some quick improvising, tossing in lines about antacid and how "it always takes a while to get Dewey out of your system". FUNNY!! And then just before the scene change, Orfeh bent over with a cloth and got what was left.

Gotta love live theatre!! :)

I hope this show runs for years and years and years!

Oh and I love the preshow announcement about the use of photography or recording devices. Originally and timely! :)

Updated On: 4/11/07 at 12:13 AM

[FutureAladdinOnB'Way]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 12:16am

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! I'm really excited about all of the positive feedback that this show has gotten.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 12:18am

haha its soo cute. Was that Leslie doing it?? "The conductor is so cute in a john mayer scruffy kind of way" it sets the mood and gets you excited.

Updated On: 4/11/07 at 12:18 AM

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 12:27am

That wasn't a blooper, that scene goes from December to April.

[ruprecht]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:50am

Just to clarify, it's Karl with a "K".

[donna_darko_23]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:53am

The dog barfing is a funny live blooper.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 8:08am

That wasn't a blooper, that scene goes from December to April.

I think they need to do some tweaking on that bit because it wasn't clear. Especially when they made such a big deal about the first couple month changes and then nothing for April. Maybe it fell too early.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 8:58am

hahaha wondered how long it would take for one of the dogs to do something erm messy on the stage(bless)

Glad you loved it , its a great show

[theminutepast]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:13pm

The dog barfed probably because he hadn't had anything to eat since 8 that morning. Anyone who read the Broadway.com article knows they starve the dog so he will perform better.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:13pm

For all its glitz, energy, pyrotechnical dance numbers, Legally Blonde disappoints. I caught the Sunday Matinee April 8 at 2 pm.

When I saw Legally Blonde the movie, I didn't expect to like it, but Reese Witherspoon embraced her blondeness, was in on the blonde joke from the get go, was over the top blonde and when she lost her boyfriend, we realized she was a real person with real feelings and we felt for her.

No so in the musical. The musical opens with a cutsiepie number called Omigosh with a plethora of obnoxious sef involved valley sororiety girls. After the number, Elle Woods joins the groups with dog in hand and becomes one of the insipid masses of blonde vapidness. When she loses her boyfriend, I felt nothing except good that a little pain came into the insipid woman's life. (I believe Avenue Q instructs this is Shaudenfraude) The musicals fails here where the movie suceeds in letting us want to side with Elle Woods. That is the biggest problem with the show.
You don't care about Elle Woods.

Hairspray, the musical, achieves this so much better when we zero in on Tracy Turnblatt in the opening number of the musical and we fall in love with her from moment one. Sweet Charity, the musical achieves empathy when we focus in on Charity from moment one. Not so with Legally Blonde.

Although "Ohmigosh" is a visually stunning number with unfortunately eye rolling and embarrasing lyrics, it works against the main character in the opening position of the show. I recommend they move this number until after we meet Elle Woods.
Give Elle the first moments of the show and make us fall for her.

I don't think it's Laura Bell Bundy's fault but the director and the book writer and how they set her up. Laura Bell Bundy does a decent enough job but she is missing a directorial hand. This brings us to Jerry Mitchell.

I have been a big fan of Jerry Mitchel for many years admiring his work on La Cage,
Hairspray, Full Monty and others, but he is missing the directorial eye focussing instead (as many choreographers turned directors do) on the energetic dance number.

Another problem with the focus of the show can be fixed very easily. There are a trio of "sororiety sisters" aka "the greek chorus" which is behind Elle. Wel one of them is blonde and she steals too much focus. She has a better wig than Laura Bell and she is prettier than Laura Bell. They should make this girl a red head or a brunette. They should also give that girls wig to Elle Woods as Elle's wig looks fakey and the sororiety sister simply has a better wig. It seems as if they are dead set on having a carbon copy of Reese Witherspoon's hair which looks just like that; a fake carbon copy of Reese Witherspoon's hair. (Thankfully, Laura Bell's hair or wig is much improved in Act Two)

I found the music a great disappointment as well adding very little to enhance the movie enjoyment. Thank g-d for Jerry Mitchell's choreography to camoflauge this second rate score and lyrics. Now, if he could just focus a little as director, he may be able to fix the proceedings.

As for the supporting cast, I think Michael Rupert as the curmudgeonly lawyer does a great job. Chistian Borle (who was so wonderful in Spamalot) is not used to best advantage as a character actor. Orfeh and Nikki Snelson are energetic and fine. All are fine performers but their major character trait is "energetic" and they lack a real director's hand.

I think Legally Blonde will please 12 -14 years olds but will dissappoint thinking adults. When a musical doesn't add or improve on the movie, and I don't care about the main character...what is the point? For all its glitz and glamour, I was legally bored.

[sparkles]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:29pm

That blooper is hilarious! Maybe the dog had stage fright!

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:33pm

HaHa.

Poor dog, but thats hilarious.

What were the reactions of the audience?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 1:36pm

Also, HAIRSPRAY's heroine is Tracy TurnBLAD -- NOT Tracy TurnBLATT!

[KillsTwiceADay]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 2:06pm

"The dog barfed probably because he hadn't had anything to eat since 8 that morning. Anyone who read the Broadway.com article knows they starve the dog so he will perform better."

not to go all 'PETA', but oh my goodness! that's terrible.

that blooper's pretty hilarious, though.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:04pm

Goldenboy, I agree completely ... Legally Blonde is Broadway Musical 101. Nothing special at all. Laura Bell has no "star" quality, she's not funny enough, doesn't sing well enough, doesn't have presence, doesn't have any chemistry with Borle. I was mildly entertained, but this is clearly a show for the "unsophisticated" theatregoer, as the 12 year old girls around me loved it. However, I took my 14 year old niece, who ADORES the movie, and her reaction was "its good but the movie is sooooo much better." And she thought they should get an Elle who sings better! Legally Blonde is this season's Wedding Singer. Both are mediocre musicals of fun movies. Legally will do well with the teenage girl crowd, the tourist crowd and the family audience, but die-hard New York audiences will be disappointed.

[WilliamT]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 3:44pm

Goldenboy/Westvillage - I know a great deal of "sophisticated theatre goers" who have really enjoyed this production. I agree that it's primary demo is girls 8-15, but not everything has to be as complex as Wicked or as edgy as Spring Awakening or as fresh as The Drowsy Chaperone. It has it's place and does quite well in the world of musical theatre and will hopefully be around longer than the Wedding Singer - another great musical people loved to hate just because it was based on a movie.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:32pm

I do not bash legally blonde because it came from a movie.

Some of my favorite shows are Hairspray, Producers and Spamalot and I'm fairly sure that they all came from movies. Even Sweet Charity (which I love) came from the movie Nights of Cabiria and Mame (which I love) was from Auntie Mame! I just have to give my opinion and that is what it is... my opinion. I just can't stand people gushing over something that to me is so mediocre.

For $110 per ticket, West Village's niece deserved to enjoy the $110 musical more than the $10 movie. This was not the case for his niece nor was it the case for me. Why bother if it doesn't improve the material?

I go to musicals to hopefully love them; not hate them.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:41pm

Yes, but you still did not enjoy it. So it was much easier for you to side with him/her.

[hiltyfied]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 4:57pm

Westvillage and goldenboy, I'm sorry you didn't like Legally Blonde but many of those who have enjoyed/will enjoy it are not "unsophisticated theatregoers." There is such a thing as a difference of opinion...

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:23pm

not everything has to be as complex as Wicked

I giggled when I read this. I like Wicked, but I don't think I would EVER classify it as "complex."

[LBfan292]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 5:32pm

awww. poor dog lol :}.. Glad to hear you liked legally blonde though!:}

[WestVillage]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 6:01pm

Legally Blonde was so unbelievably basic ... very elementary in script, music, execution and even performance. There was nothing special on that stage. Its a pure bubblegum musical that loses its flavor very quickly. Very very trite. Like goldenboy said, it didn't improve on the movie, so why bother?

Wedding Singer ... a great musical????? I don't think so. Not because it was based on a movie; because it was pretty damn lame.
Updated On: 4/11/07 at 06:01 PM

[carymetorent2]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 6:12pm

Well this "unsophisticated theatregoer" liked it a lot.

I did wince a little when I read the thing about the dogs not being fed, but I am sure they get good care.

I think LB is fun. Anyone looking for more than a fun night at the theatre shouldn't go.

[Weez]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 7:36pm

I had a dog, and I dogsat a dog, and not feeding them from 8am to, say, 10.30pm isn't necessarily as cruel as it sounds. The dog I actually owned had one hearty meal a day, and the dog I sat had two daily meals at not too dissimilar hours to 8am and 10.30pm. Neither dog was mistreated or starved, they were both very happy and healthy and loving, and it was actually on the vet's advice that the dog we owned had one daily meal. If they're not feeding the dog straight after the show, then that's definitely an issue. But if they're admitting in public the dog doesn't eat after 8am, then they probably don't have anything to hide in that regard.

Reminds me of someone on a pet community who said that water bottles were a really cruel way to give water to a pet because it was like if we had to drink through a hose. I drink most of my stuff through straws, considerably smaller than hoses, and it's not a problem. Hohum. ^_^

[folkyboy]

Posted: 4/11/07 at 7:55pm

honestly, if they fed the dog right after the first show, i'd be afraid of what came out of Chloe during the UPS guy scene! haha :)

it could've been a LOT harder to cover up!