LEGALLY BLONDE - THE MUSICAL

I never got a chance to see this live, but I know realize what a great show it is. I love the score, the sets, the book, and it's really funny. I bought the cast album last week, and I'm addicted to listening to it. Especially the opening, "Omigod u guys". Just wonderful. I finally got to see the whole show thanks to YouTube. Anyone else want to share their thoughts on the show?
Full Show on YouTube

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Loved this musical. It was smart and fun. Don't know why it just didn't do better.

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That is a very subjective question, I am sure there are plenty who prefer the Broadway show and cast recording. I prefer it the London cast recording.

Ben Brantley who hated the Broadway showed, enjoyed the West End show.

Broadway review:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/theater/reviews/30blon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

West End review:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/london-theater-journal-legally-blonde-daring-to-be-dumb/

The issue many attribute to the Broadway production was that it took itself to seriously...while the West End production was just about having a good time.

Financially the Broadway production was also a disaster where the stairwell in the first two scenes added an extra $100,000 to the running costs....(I may be misquoting the exact number, but it added an exorbitant amount). The Broadway production, similar to that of the original Ragtime was too well Big....although it was a great show its production values took away from the wittiness of its book and lyrics. Honestly similar to Ragtime I think when it is revived in a much more stripped down fashion akin to the 2009 Ragtime revival Legally Blonde will receive the praise it did not get the first time around.

Legally Blonde had so much energy. I miss it.

With all due respect how can Ragtime and Legally Blonde be put in the same stratosphere?? Ragtime is a masterpiece in musical theater, which did not garner the attention that it deserved in both it's original and revived productions. Legally Blonde as dramamama said far exceeded my expectations in that it was a really good time musical but that's where it ends. I did always feel that Legally Blonde would have fared better in a smaller house. However, considering the kind of show that it was it had a sufficient run.

I never said that they were SMART...I said its book and lyrics were WITTY. There is a difference.

Smart lyrics would be the beautiful poetry that is the lyrics of Spring Awakening.

When I said Witty, I mean it was great how they figured out how to include pop culture references into their lyrics without interrupting the flow of the song as well as the references they used. Look at Silence the musical its lyrics are considered extremely witty by critics, would you call them smart know but are they funny yes.

I would also agree that the book is very much the screenplay thrown on the the stage, which in most adaptations is their down fall, but in Legally Blonde's case it is its strength because the scenes they kept (Professor Callahan's classes and the courtroom scenes) were so simple yet essential to the plot. The way Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin were able to musicalize the scenes without causing the scenes to become convoluted is why many have recently praised the two for the work on Legally Blonde, noticing how great a job they actually did with the music during the stripped down West End production.

Also realize Legally Blonde was the begining of the High School Musical generation musicals opening a year after High School Musical became a phenomenon. Clearly not ready for the teenage girls screaming in the audience.

The fact that the musical also opened the same season as Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens also took away from the simplicity of the book and music, since those two shows are often considered artistic masterpieces. Curtains was Kander and Ebbs "supposed" last show, before anyone knew "The Scottsbourough Boys" existed. Mary Poppins was amazing compared to the crap adaption of Tarzan, as well as it had already proven itself successful in it's West End run running for over 2 years before the Broadway transfer (compared to the recent transfer of Ghost which had only run 3 months before its producers thought it was successful enough to bring it to Broadway).

If Legally Blonde had opened in a season similar to this past one it would have likly been given praise very similar to that of Newsies in that it is nothing special, but it is good for what it is.

Legally Blonde is very much the mmartyr of the guilty pleasure comedy stage adaptions. Think about it if Legally Blonde did not first get trashed by the critics, would they have ever said a nice thing about later adaptations such as Sister Act, Shrek, Pricilla Queen of the Desert, or even Rock of Ages...(I am not saying that I like these shows but the praised aspects of these shows are very similar to aspects of Legally Blonde the critics loathed.)

Mister Matt thank you for explaining that I meant that when I compared Legally Blonde to Ragtime, I was stating that both musicals benefited from smaller productions. Don't quote me on this but I believe a couple of the Ragtime revival's reviews even stated that they hated the bloated original production, but Dodge's revival made the see why so many fell in love with the show.

Second when I said the production took itself to seriously I meant to say the critics took the show to seriously.

Real wit IS smart.

All musicals have plot holes, but Legally Blonde makes an art of it.

I love the score and I agree that the show has clever lyrics, but IMO the book just completely dumbs down the show. Of course, most of you are probably aware of the irrational hatred that I have for the Legally Blonde book.

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I was not surprised when it won the Olivier award here for Best Musical, it deserved it

Agreed. As well as Sheridan Smith's Olivier for her performance. It was one of the best musical productions I've seen in the West End. Absolutely joyous. Sheridan was the reason I saw the West End production (been a fan of hers from years of watching Two Pints), but I was genuinely surprised at how much better the production was in London given the changes were so subtle (unlike the rocky path of Love Never Dies which still has yet to sort itself out). If only they could have moved the London production to a smaller Broadway house with Sheridan Smith so American audiences could have seen how the show should have been performed.

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The best Elle by far is Sheridan Smith. I liked LBB but Sheridan found the fun and heart in the role far better. The changes for the UK were not huge but very important to make the show what it was meant to be all along

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