Legally Blonde FINAL PERFORMANCE

was anyone there..???

how was it???

IM DYING TO KNOW.
ANY SPECIAL JOKES OR ANY CAST MEMBERS CRYING?

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I was there.

It was an AWESOME show tonight. Where to begin?

The moments before the show started, there was this roar at the back of the orchestra and people started standing up and grabbing cell phone cameras and whatnot. I wondered what celebrity had decided to show up and stood up to look around and see who it was. I couldn't really see, and then heard someone shout, "It's Reese Witherspoon!" I thought that was really odd, since it seemed strange she would pick the final performance to finally come see the show. Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered it was not Reese Witherspoon, but actually Heather Hach, the book-writer. She'd probably be thrilled to know people were mistaking her for Reese Witherspoon. Apparently, John Stamos was also there, but I didn't see him.

The show finally began, and the place was going nuts. Each of the PMS girls got huge applause when they opened their window. You could barely hear Kate Rockwell's lines it was so loud. There was more loud applause when the rest of them opened their window. Autumn got applause after her solo line. People screamed when Bruiser came out, and I think scared him half to death. It was also nice to see the smaller ensemble characters like Cara Massey and Amber Efe get entrance applause. The show stopped when Bailey came up. She was smiling and trying to stay in character, but was really appreciative of the applause. I think that was the first time she cried that night (but it would not be the last).

The show moved along, with lots of applause and whatnot. Kevin got entrance applause when he came out in the golf cart during What You Want. Bailey was having a BALL tonight during What You Want when she was working the staircase and the railing. It was hilarious. Kate Rockwell was also having more fun than normal with the LSAT for Dummies book. Aside from reading it upside down and tracing the lettering, I saw her at one point try to balance the book on her head while she was walking around.

Interestingly enough, the loudest, longest entrance applause for anyone was Orfeh, which made me REALLY happy. She did not disappoint, either. Her Ireland reprise was OUT OF THIS WORLD tonight. Those riffs were freaking amazing. The place erupted when she finished, and several people stood up. I've heard some Orfeh riffs on "that site" before, but never like this. Holy smokes.

There were a couple of cute moments during the first act. First, after Warner makes his schpiel about Mr. Lattimer and the sperm, and Callahan goes, "Now you're thinking like a lawyer," Kate Shindle goes, "Yay! A lawyer!!" Then, after Callahan asks Elle for her resume and she's walking off making that high-pitched noise, as she walked past Vivienne, she bumped her hips with butt. Kate looked ready to lose it.

So Much Better was really good. Although, you couldn't hear most of Bailey's last note because the applause was so loud.

Bailey was crying and holding back tears for most of the second act. Lots of applause for Kyle, and the girls during Bend and Snap. Sampliner was encouraging the audience to clap along during Bend and Snap.

When Bailey was singing the Legally Blonde ballad, you could see the tears just pouring down her face. It was a nice moment. During the Remix, Kate got huge applause during her solo, and there was more clapping in time during the dance section. More crazy applause when Kate hit the "money note."

Right before the finale, Kate was barely able to make it through the "William Shakespeare once wrote..." speech. Then, Orfeh riffed most of the epilogue. It was insane. People were going crazy.

People jumped up the minute the curtain came down. The curtain calls were wild, of course. There were no speeches or anything, however. They just sang the title song one last time, and waved. Many cast members seemed to be crying at that point, and they all started hugging each other after the song ended.

This show was never the greatest musical, nor the best written, but I have never had as good a time, never left the theater happier, then after seeing Legally Blonde. Yes, much of it is incredibly cheesy, but it was just such an unadulterated good time, that it didn't matter. You always left smiling, and for that, I'm sad to see it go.

I didn't stay for the stage door, which was a mob scene, so others will have to tell you about that. I did find out, however, that Richard Blake is joining the Wicked tour as Fiyero. That's what he was telling people at the stage door.

My roommate and I were there and it was a very energetic audience. I was afraid that the audience was going to be out of control--but, surprisingly, it was a very tame audience for Legally Blonde... especially the closing. I think this may have been due to a good number of audience members being people who had no idea it was the final performance.

The audience gave entrance applause to just about everyone and everything in Omigod You Guys.

Orfeh was out of control with her riffs--Ireland (reprise) and Find My Way were completely different songs. This woman really can do no wrong--she seems to always give 110%.

Bailey gave a great performance--she was ON during What You Want. The dance break looked SO good tonight (also--Whipped Into Shape looked AMAZING from where I was sitting in the middle of the orchestra. I never realized how great of a dance number that is).

Christian was good. Nothing different, really--but a very solid performance.

Kate Shindle didn't get any entrance applause (which is understandable, I suppose because her entrance isn't just her--and she kind of blends in), but she gave a great performance, as always. She was the only cast member I noticed anything really different from--in the classroom scene before the end of Act 1 when Calahan (sp) told Warner, "Now you're thinking like a lawyer!", Kate said over everyone else, "Yay! A lawyer!!" which received lots of laughs. It was sad, I couldn't even hear her last note in Legally Blonde Remix due to the audience going nuts--but rightfully so.

Richard Blake was good as Warner--but again, nothing really new. Still, a solid performance.

There was no speech at the end which was sad, but it was nice to get out of the auditorium quickly. The show went VERY quickly for a final performance (compared to title of show, which lasted... what, 45 minutes longer?)

The women in front of us hadn't seen the show before, and during intermission, turned around and asked, "So, what is the deal with this performance? Why all the cheering?" We informed them that it was the final performance of the show--and after the show, I asked them if they enjoyed it, and they said they loved it--so the avid Blonde fans didn't seem to keep the rest of the audience from enjoying/understanding the show.

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Updated On: 10/19/08 at 11:32 PM

Aw, so glad to hear the show was so good.

I agree with your assessment of the show, adam. It is nowhere near even being in the realm of close to perfect, but it is a hell of a lot of pure unadulterated fun.

I'll miss it.

Jeez...

Updated On: 10/19/08 at 11:48 PM

hee- Kate's totally done the "yay! a lawyer!!!" bit before, I think she might have just been extra loud with it tonight.

Orfeh- oh. my. god. No words- her Ireland (Reprise) was amazing, but then she started riffing the hell out of the graduation scene... I don't know, can you even call that riffing, or rewriting every note? :) It was amazing. *loved it*

Loved pretty much everyone getting their own entrance applause.

I was very sad that they didn't even do a special curtain call. No director/writer/crew on stage, no speeches from anyone, nothing at all.

Word. I mean I guess you don't *have to* have a speech, just because it's a closing show, but considering that I was just at the closing of [tos] this time last week, (where there was a closing speech- director, u/s brought onstage, etc.) it was so strange to have... nothing.

Stage door was a madhouse, but it was so great to hear what everyone's doing next.

Anakela, what is everyone doing next? The only one I heard about was Richard. We know Bailey is doing HSM, and Autumn is doing that new musical, whose name escapes me (something about a moon). What about the rest of them?

Glimpses of the Moon

So happy it went out with a bang. I'm gonna miss it. Thanks for your reviews.

That was honestly one of my favorite lasts that I have ever attended.

I was worried that the cheers would be a bit over the top and would detract from people's enjoyment of the show, but the whole audience was pretty respectful. There was a lot of entrance applause and it was really nice to see many members of the ensemble get the applause they deserve. But there was really no times when the cheering was out of control or inappropriate.

I am not the biggest fan of Bailey. I think she is cute and spunky and an excellent dancer, but I'm not a fan of her overall performance in comparison with the other Elles I've seen . That being said, she was very good tonight. I really enjoyed how much fun she had the whole performance and how genuine she was towards the end when she teared up.

Of course, in my opinion, Orfeh stole the show. She was hilarious and when she sang that Ireland reprise, I got chills. I only hope the people not present at the show get a chance to hear that and her "Find My Way" finale because it was ridiculous and amazing and the audience ate it up.

Kate Shindle going even FARTHER up the octave in her note at teh end of teh "Remix" was also jaw dropping.

The stage door, while crazy, was pretty well maintained. It seems a lesson was learned from LBB's last!

Regardless, I'm so glad I was in attendance to see off this show as it has always made me leave the theatre smiling and tOnight was no exception.

As for Richard as Fiyero...he is going to be on the first national tour (there are two - as the CHicago sit down cast is apparently going out on tour next year or something?). It's not official as his contract hasn't been signed yet, but it's pretty solid.

I'm thrilled that he finally gets to play the good guy and gets to go back to a lead role...and he will be dancing again!!

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Fiyero is not a lead.

What about the rest of them?

Lindsay Nicole Chambers is going to Ohio to do All Shook Up. (Someone else is too, but right now I am totally blanking on who.) Nicolette is probably doing the Rent tour with A&A. And I got one "can neither confirm nor deny" from someone about something I'd heard, lol. Otherwise it was mostly talk about auditions and vacation plans and such.

Nicolette for Maureen on the tour? Do the producers know how poorly most people responded to her? She was so much better in LB.

Beth Curry (Ensemble) will next be reprising her role of "I Do" Ida Dunn, in an industry run though of 2008 NYMF Best of Fest show Idaho! in a few weeks.

I really hope this show gets produced on a larger scale, and Beth gets to shine in a lead role.

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