Legally Blonde London

[Actor2]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 2:58pm

Someone in another thread recently said that they "fixed the flaws in Legally Blonde in London," and I was wondering, from anyone who's seen both, what the differences are? I happened to love it on Broadway, and am excited to hear what the improved upon.

[TheHappyPhantom]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 3:18pm

Unless by fixed the flaws they mean burnt the script and opened another show, I don't see how that's possible.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 8:33pm

I saw both. The London production had some minor book and lyric changes, but the show was set in a smaller theatre, cast a genuine star in the lead with more charisma and comedic talent, and the direction was MUCH tighter and more focused. Sheridan's performance was far more nuanced and layered. The difference was night and day. Luckily, the creative team and the producers saw the potential from the Broadway production (instead of being drive-by snarky mean girls) and knew what needed to be done to turn the show around from forgotten fluff to an award-winning smash hit.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 9:30pm

If she could make the jokes in that disaster of a book funny, she deserves an Olivier award.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 10:11pm

And she got one.

[Actor2]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 11:16pm

Thank you Mister Matt.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:17pm

And it wasn't just the comedy that earned her the award. She simply nailed every scene with sincerity and honesty. One of the best performances I've seen in a West End musical. Legally Blonde won three Oliver awards:

Best New Musical
Best Actress in a Musical - Sheridan Smith
Best Supporting Role in a Musical - Jill Halfpenny (both male and female performers compete in one category of only 4 nominees)

I really liked Jill Halfpenny, but I honestly thought Orfeh was funnier and a stronger singer. But Halfpenny had a totally different take that was more subtle and sweet (and she's a tiny little thing). The director really catered towards Halfpenny's personality and style and made it work for the character. As a result, Paulette went from being a bawdy tacky clown to something more of a real person who was inexperienced and sheltered and it paid off.

Overall, the direction of the show in London added a layer of realistic emotion that was simply tossed aside on Broadway. I think like most classic musical comedies, the book and the score are quite solid in the right hands with attention to detail. And the London production truly resembled the classic musical comedies of the Golden Age. It was like watching a Cy Coleman show. I didn't feel that way about the Broadway production at all.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:39pm

A great video of Sheridan performing So Much Better
So Much Better

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:43pm

And on the flip side, Sheridan performing the title song

To me, this was perfection when I saw it live
Legally Blonde

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:47pm

I don't want to start laying down superlatives because it was done in my own country, as that comes across as crass and conceited.

But I will say, this is the sort of show I hate and deliberately avoided on Broadway, I saw the show and loved it. If someone told me, it would go on and win best musical in the Olivier Awards, I would of said go and get your head checked.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:47pm

I had no idea the West End production was a smash hit (or even still running). I understand it's on a UK tour now as well? Wonder if it's as scaled as the 1NT. The cast sounds terrible on the cast recording.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:55pm

Even yours truly Ben Brantley kinda loved it, he even found his English equivalent of Kristin Chenoweth.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/london-theater-journal-legally-blonde-daring-to-be-dumb/#more-116759

The program for the London production of “Legally Blonde,” the 2007 Broadway musical based on the 2001 film, has a glossary of Americanisms for those unversed in the languages of Malibu and Ivy League New England. But British audience members don’t really need to know what the LSATs or sorority houses are, any more than a child needs to understand the medieval Arabic origins of “Aladdin” to attend a Christmas pantomime.

The London “Legally Blonde” is just plain silly — even sillier than it was in New York. And that, oddly enough, is its strength. Led by the irresistibly likable Sheridan Smith, who has become a full-fledged West End star in the part, and directed by Jerry Mitchell (who created the Broadway version as well), this “Blonde” dares to be dumb, glossing over the half-baked satire of American archetypes and transforming the entire show into an extended music-hall fairy tale.

I presumed I’d never have the occasion – and certainly not the inclination – to see “Legally Blonde” again, after having reviewed it three years ago in New York, where it left me feeling my pores had been clogged with some sugar substitute. But friends here kept telling me I should check out the London incarnation, and I had enjoyed Ms. Smith in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors” a few years ago. So there I was on Friday night, me and a lot of little girls in sparkly clothes.

Maybe it was from having spent much of the earlier part of the week watching American tragedies (“All My Sons,” “Beyond the Horizon”), but “Legally Blonde” tasted vaguely refreshing, like a swig of soda pop after a night of straight Scotch. Like the West End version of “Hairspray,” this singing story of a California girl who follows her boyfriend to Harvard Law School is less slick than its Broadway incarnation, but it also feels less synthetic.

By conventional standards, Ms. Smith would seem to be miscast as Elle Woods, a part created on screen by Reese Witherspoon and on Broadway by Laura Bell Bundy. She is not fashion-magazine skinny and airbrushed-pretty but slightly plump and impish. Her dancing is just passable. And her accent is still closer to that of the sweetheart of skid row she played in “Little Shop” than that of a Valley Girl fraternity sweetheart.

But she has fabulous comic timing and an air of sincerity that makes you care. You root for her in the way you might root for Lucille Ball or Mary Tyler Moore in a sitcom. And she seems to be having such a darn good time up there. Don’t ask me to defend “Legally Blonde” as a good musical. I wouldn’t even try. But Ms. Smith has a gift that can’t be learned: When she smiles, you smile. And that infectiousness can go a long way in keeping audiences contented in their seats.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 1:24pm

The cast sounds terrible on the cast recording.

Yeah, it's another of those live recordings that are quickly becoming popular as they are cheaper to produce. While some members of the London cast were not as vocally strong (and the odd American dialects, which I find excusable), you also hear the fatigue of singing while performing the more physically demanding numbers (even more apparent in the recent Oliver revival recording) which is a lot more forgivable when you have the visual. But given the two recordings, I gravitate towards the London recording simply for the fondness of Sheridan Smith and being so captivated with her performance.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 2:06pm

This makes me wonder if this has ever happened: Has a show every done poorly (either in London or NYC), but moved to another city, had some changes/tweaks, and then reopened again in the same city? I think a more scaled down Legally Blonde could do far better stateside. It's such a great score.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 2:30pm

I can't imagine Broadway producers giving Legally Blonde another shot with the current production without Sheridan Smith. And it would need to be in a MUCH smaller Broadway house than the Palace. Even then, the critics will probably avoid it and Americans have no idea who Sheridan Smith is. Without the critics' return to sing her praises, the whole thing would probably be ignored. Sheridan had a fan base from Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and had appeared in the West End before. Nobody has heard of her in the US unless they follow British television (that has not been aired in the US). We'd probably end up with Lea Michele as Elle to try and boost the box office.

I wish I could have seen Sheridan in Flare Path as well. I heard she was equally fantastic in that play.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 5:18pm

I can't imagine Broadway producers giving Legally Blonde another shot....

That is all.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 5:52pm

That wasn't my point at all. I was just using it as an example as to ask "Has something like this ever happened?"

[Tamerlano]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 6:31pm

It was even more horrid on tour in the UK...sets cut down to masking flats and a few flown pieces.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 9:36pm

For me, the biggest problem with Legally Blonde at the Palace was the scale. The Palace is a VERY large house and Legally Blonde is NOT a very large show. It often felt as though decisions where made based on the need to fill the real estate of the stage, rather than the need to to tell the story... not that wrong choices were made, but that the scale was blown up to fit the space in a way that swallowed the story. Since it wasn't a spectacle based show, it also seemed to stop at about mid orchestra. Any further back or higher up and you may as well have been watching it through a computer screen.

Now, as far as Sheridan Smith vs. Laura Bell Bundy... To be honest, there is no love lost for me. Personally, I did not care one lick for Laura Bell Bundy's performance. There was more mugging and broad camp than a picket pocket drag queen in Times Square on New Year's Eve... not to mention that the score just didn't seem to place well on her voice. if anyone else remembers, there *was* quite a bit of circulation when Blonde opened that Jerry Mitchell had to fight tooth and nail for Laura Bell Bundy to star in the show and that the other creatives wanted to find another lead. One of my vivid memories of the show (I saw it several times over the run in an effort to several performers that i enjoy..) was seeing Becky Gulsvig's first performance as Elle and walking by the composers at intermission who were pretty openly discussing their regret at having allowed Laura Bell to open the show and how much they preferred it without her.