Is there anyone who thinks the idea of Legally Blonde is ridiculous?- Page 4

[sondhead]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 2:05am

I don't understand the anger towards movie adaptations. As has been said often here, it's not about where it came from, it's about the musical itself. Adapting from a movie is no different from adapting from a book or a play. I don't know why everyone thinks that "suddenly" there is no completely original musicals on Broadway. Name me one time where "original" musicals have dominated and I'll send you a cookie via mail.

Lets also not forget that Broadway is, always has been, and always will be first and foremost a tourist attraction. Call it art or whatever you want, but it has to make money or it doesn't happen and if you don't know that then you're kidding yourself. I think anything getting people interested in Broadway is good. The more a person knows about it, the more obscure things they eventually start looking into. That doesn't mean you can't not like a show, but know that anything making money has a place. I think it's a pretty fair assessment that Legally Blonde will make some money.

[dented146]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 2:17am

It seems to me that doing a musical like LB has a gigantic advantage over trying to do something deep and meaningful. Ridiculous becomes OK IF the show is done well. And that is always the bottom line anyway.

We saw the PR video and couldn't help but believe this had to be Ridiculous with a capital R. If the production ends up having good word of mouth then the PR campaign was very destructive.

I find it interesting that people seem to see a distinction between LB and Young Frankenstein. Don't we actually look forward to YF being ridiculous? I do.

To me it's about entertainment. And sadly, if you try something deep and meaningful and it ends up being a little ridiculous, you're screwed.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 2:30am

SeanMartin, "Do-Re-Mi" was not fluff (this from a man whose handle is "Allofmylife").

That aside, Broadway has ALWAYS been 98% fluff with a few scattered "meaningful" shows - most of which closed on a very early Saturday night.

"Showboat" ran during a season filled with girlie reviews. "Of Thee I Sing" ran in a season filled with Follies and Scandals and Vanities and exactly one other "meaningful" musical: "The Cat and The Fiddle".

"On Your Toes " had only ONE other musical running during it's run, "The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936" and a whole lotta reviews.

"Oklahoma" opened in a season where the only other hit was "Star and Garter"

Fluff keeps the doors open, the theaters painted, the staff employed and the actors eating and housed.

I have no problem with fluff. And apparently, historically, neither have 98% of the audiences....

[Julian2]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 2:51am

I think blaxx meant that even pure fluff needs to be well crafted. (Of course there is "so bad its good" but that's a different story). And I agree, even the stupid fun comedy no-plot to speak of Pre-Oklahoma! musical comedies were crafted with various degrees of success artistically and/or commercially. If this weren't true, all of them would have been hits! I don't think the statement was meant to suggest a moratorium on comedy, it was meant to say you can't just throw bubblegum up on a stage un-chewed and expect it to stick. It needs to be chewed thoroughly, aimed very carefully, spit out with all the precision possible and scraped carefully where necessary. Its like an ice sculpture at a party, not necessary, but pretty. Do you want the angel with the melted wing? or the one that catches the light with a sparkling brilliance?

"Every tasty morsel savored, chewed, and masticated."

Updated On: 2/13/07 at 02:51 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 3:18pm

I don't think that basing a musical on a movie is any worse than basing it on a novel.

I mean, if I had read The Light in the Piazza before it was adapted into a musical, when I found out it was going to be made into one, I probably would have been like "Man, that book doesn't deserve to be a musical." And you know what, I would have been proven wrong.

[RentHead2]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 4:59pm

You know, I love the movie into musical concept. It works well for me. I loved DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, THE WEDDING SINGER, HIGH FIDELITY. I absolutly adored them, while some of the so called originals really flopped with me. I found myself bored during Drowsey and Spring Awakening. Dont get me wrong, I love originals like TITLE OF SHOW and THE LAST 5 YEARS...but lets not sit here and say all movie musicals are worthless. I found THE WEDDING SINGER so addictive, I found myself driving out to NYC from PA over and over again to see it. But thats just me :) No other show has ever had me coming out to see it so often. So with that said...I am very excited to see Legally Blonde.

I may have not seen the show yet, but I love the casting so farr. The tunes are VERY CATCHY to me. Lets not judge before it comes out.

[WalkOn]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:09pm

Why is there so much judgement towards people who aren't interested in this show?

I wasn't crazy about the movie, didn't like the clips I saw that are designed to part me with my money and make the effort to see the show. I don't see how what I find to be so-so music adds much to a story I have little interest in.

Great for the creative team and investors if it is a success, but I don't see myself going out the way to see it.

Unless those whose opinions I respect convince me that I mis-judged the show and would probably like it.

Or, I may see it if I got a free ticket and had a free night.

As for screen to stage adapatations. Everyone acts like this is something new. It has been going on for decades. Only now, people are noticing the formulatic tendencies in such adaptations.

Updated On: 2/13/07 at 05:09 PM

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:23pm

The idea is not nearly as ridiculous as the number of threads about it.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:24pm

>> SeanMartin, "Do-Re-Mi" was not fluff (this from a man whose handle is "Allofmylife").

Please. It was a vehicle piece, with an acceptable score and an inane story. It's fluff, through and through.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:42pm

I liked the movie, hated the sequel, and didn't expect much from the show based on the clips we had seen here. However, the show itself was a lot of fun. There were some good songs and while "Ohmigod, you guys" seems like a stupid idea for a song, days after seeing the show, I still hum the song in my head. It's a good show, not a great one. It won't win Pulitzers or anything like that nor was it intended to. This is showbiz. And Legally Blonde is smart business.

[snl89]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 5:58pm

sorry, this is from a while back, but:

Not all movies or musicals have to be deep and artistic to be entertaining.

That's idiotic and mediocre not to aim to achieve both.

how so, may I ask? I understand what you mean about craft and everything- a show, imo, should always strive to be well crafted- but are "well crafted" and "deep and artistic" really the same things? I always thought of well crafted as just.. well made, in any aspect. Deep and artistic, on the other hand, has to do more with a certain TYPE of show, doesn't in? In which case I agree with the idea that a show DOESNT always have to be deep and artistic to be entertaining. There IS such thing as mindless fun, and it CAN be done well, and a lot of times I enjoy really good mindless fun every bit as much as I enjoy deep shows that make me think! Again, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be well crafted- in fact, for them to work they pretty much HAVE to be well crafted, but it just seems like to say that all shows should aim to be deep and thought provoking is kind of eliminating an entire genre of theater!

So really, I think I agree with you, because I have a feeling that what you meant was that even "mindless fun" shows should be well made. its just the way you phrased it that I dont quite agree with :)

[Miss Silly Billy]

Posted: 2/13/07 at 6:34pm

i dont think you can judge it until you see it... dont act like you know it's going to be awful. and just because some of you think that the movie was bad doesn't mean it was. different movies speak to different poeple. in this case LB says "bend and snap!"
just give it a chance. when it come out and you see it and you think it's terrible, then start the bashing thread :]

when did broadway become us weekly magazine?

[musicman117]

Posted: 2/15/07 at 1:30am

...just when i thought some people on this site couldn't get any more pretentious....

Legally Blonde is a smart story. The whole theme of the story is to not judge a book by its cover. Elle is thought to be frivolous and not intelligent because of her blonde hair and designer clothes. She turns out to be the valedictorian of her class....

There's a lesson in that for some of you. You call this show "unintelligent" and "a fluff musical" but in reality, just like its predecessor Hairspray, there is a lesson intermixed with all that pink costuming and Jerry Mitchell choreography. and it is, perhaps, a lesson that some people on this board could learn... Don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, don't judge a show without seeing it first.

Who knows? Legally Blonde, much like its leading lady, might overcome the adversity of stereotypes and become valedictorian (or in the show's cast the Best Musical of the year).

As far as saying the lyrics are "pedestrian," not everything has to be as complex as a Sondheim. Honestly, the song "Omigod you Guys" is a great way to open the show. The songs are using the vernacular that the characters use. In all honesty, if the Delta Nu girls sang lyrics containing the vocabulary Sondheim uses, it wouldn't make any sense.

From what i have heard and seen so far, Legally Blonde looks and sounds to be a great and energetic musical comedy.

Let's give it a chance and not make sweeping generalizations that all movies based off of films are bad.... (anyone else remember Hairspray, The Full Monty, The Producers, etc.)

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 3:59am

To quote someone I often have respect for, "seanmartin why do u need to make dumb and asshole comments?"

Do-Re-Mi was not just another fluff piece. It was an early 60's musical and typical of the period, certainly. But the show took an interesting twist in the back third that sets it apart from pure "fluff" shows. America was still - it's hard to believe but it was - under the thumb of the power of Senate subcommittee hearings, blacklists and the anti-communist witchhunts. Anti-americanism was still a convenient brick to throw at people. Hell, the Attorney General was McCarthy's ex-assistant (yes, Bobby Kennedy).

Being hauled up before a senate committee was a giant fear in America and I believe that Do-Re-Mi did its modest part to ridicule this fascist fashion.

The payola investigations were real and so in many ways the musical was "ripped from the headlines." They just covered the story with a gentle, mocking attitude.

The inannity of music of the time was mirrored by songs like "What's New At The Zoo" and one could even go so far as to say that Hubie, in not settling for a safe job but trying to live his dreams, no matter how unattainable, was a precursor for the individualism of the later 1960's.

And the fact that in the end, he settles for a job in a laundramat makes it a tragedy in some ways.

That's not fluff, no matter how you fold it....

Updated On: 2/18/07 at 03:59 AM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 7:07am

Gus, you can embroider a tea cozy for an elephant, but no matter how hard you try, it will never be a raincoat.

DO RE MI, for all its aspirations to "deep and meaningful", was a fluff vehicle for Phil Silvers. It might have had aspirations to say something serious, but that seriousness was buried under a barely passable score and a book laden with cute characters and cute hooks. The potential to say something smart abot payola in the music industry was left dormant in its rush to give Silvers' audience the experience of seeing him onstage, and that was all.

In some respects, it's the musical equivalent of "Miracle at Morgan's Creek," a wonderfully funny movie about "virgin birth" that had all thse little digs at the censors built into the screenplay. But the difference between DO RE MI and "Miracle" is that the latter actually met the problems head on and dealt with them. DO RE MI used a story "ripped from the headlines" to create a formulaic,first-draft-breezy show about nothing of consequence.

It's fluff. Deal with it.

[uncamark]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 11:54am

And lest we forget, folks, St. Stephen's "Little Night Music" was an adaptation of "Songs of a Summer Night"--an Ingmar Bergman film, but a film nonetheless. And "Light in the Piazza"'s pedigree has already been mentioned in this thread.

In fact, haven't there been film adaptations on the resumes of a lot of the Baby Steves (although I suspect the ultrapurists took Jeanne Tesori off of the Baby Steve list when she did "Millie")? Would there be all of this righteous indignation over "Blonde" if Guettel or Della Chiusa wrote it?

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 1:36pm

Sean, I'd write back some sort of flaming letter saying what a pretentious ahole you can be if this was an arguement worth having, which, obviously it's not. You are right it's fluff. BUT IT'S MY FLUFF!!!! It's my Wicked and Rent and, yes Legally Blonde. I am the Man in the Chair about this show and I find myself fighting a ridiculous fight over a minor show which, without Silvers and Walker, would have run for three weeks (it did have one hit song, after all).

God, I love that show.

And I hate myself for loving it.

Off to the shrink...

[HumATune]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 1:53pm

RENT isn't fluff.

(And this comes from someone who isn't really into RENT.)

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 5:45pm

You have to be kidding me about Rent being fluff.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 5:49pm

Rent? Fluff? I don't think so, come on! A show dealing with drugs, addictions, sexuality and disease is not "fluff"

[AnythingCanHappen]

Posted: 2/18/07 at 6:00pm

Is is my number one reason that I am coming to New York in April.

I guess I am just a ridiculous person.

I bet your favorite show was a ridiculous idea too.

This is a ridiculous thread.

Everythings ridiculous.

RE-DIK-YOU-LESS.

[charcar]

Posted: 2/19/07 at 10:46pm

I actually think its a great idea. When I saw the movie, I thought it would be a great musical. However, what I have heard so far on audio clips is dreadful.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/19/07 at 11:28pm

Hey, we all have guilty pleasures, guys. Whether it's fluff like DO RE MI or, in my own case, a really terrible show called CRY FOR US ALL, we all have those things we dearly love and will defend with the last fibre of our beings.

But let's keep it in perspective, okay? Accept that things are fluff and terrible and move on.

And yeah, in some vague kinda way, RENT qualifies as fluff, but that's another discussion for another thread...

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 2/20/07 at 9:47am

Dont be stupid Rent does not qualify as fluff.

[jerseyboyschick2]

Posted: 5/28/07 at 5:55pm

I saw the musical a couple of days after it started it's previews. I've gotta say that Im a huge fan of the movie, but the musical, in my opinion was OK. Some of the songs were a bit cheezy, like "omigod you guys", but others I just adored, like "Chip on my shoulder"!

Laura Bell Bundy actually was born in Lexington, Ky. (which is like 2 hours from where I live), So I really enjoyed her. Not just because she's from the Bluegrass State, but I think she is incredibly talented. Also after seeing the show, I have become an extreme Christian Borle fan! He is truely amazing! Im definatley behind him to win the Tony this year( as well as Laura)!

So overall, it was a pretty good show. As to the question "Would I ever see it again?". Well probably, just all depends.

Now you all have to remember I saw this on a Thursday, and I saw Jersey Boys Tuesday (both for the first time). I OBVIOUSLY fell in love with Jersey Boys right after the curtain went down(as well as John Lloyd Young). So it was hard for me to compare the shows after seeing them both so close together. They're 2 COMPLETLEY different shows!