Legally Blonde Tour Review January 24, 2009 (St. Louis)

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 4:21pm

Me and a friend went saturday night and here is what i thought of it:

I was really hoping to see Rhiannon as Margot, but when i saw the understudy board in the lobby i was a little disapointed but the girl Alex who played Margot was terrific! :) SO was Serena and Pilar, i liekd thema lot better than any of the ones that played on broadway! I think I actually liked this cast better! Lauren went on as Elle and I was really excited btu a little nervous cuz on teh MTV reality show, she got eliminated after the "what you want" audition cuz she was "too young" but i didnt see any immaturity that night! She does sound a lillte different tho! I really fell in love with HER elle.
(only thing i didnt like was during 'what you want' the 'its clear, right here' parts, she just spoke it and didnt hold them out, but i guess thats her thing :) )

I was really loving the sets! cut down a lot, yes, but it all worked really well! adn i liked how the light frames actually moved out of place...like for the salon scenes and callahans classrooms scenes the lights moved over and down to look like an actual room or building. it was neat! adn i was really impressed with Natalies' Paullete. man that girl can sing, i like her a lot better than Ofreh! no offense!

The Vivienne wa a lot different than Kate but i liked her too :)
the whole cast was just energetic and amazing!!
and Colleen as Brooke was really exciting! i was hoping that she wasnt going to be like Niicollete on broadway...
no offense against her but she just goes flat a lot and Colleen was total opposite.

I was just Really impressed with the Tour of the show cuz i heard a lot of people being dissapointed so i wasnt sure what to expect with all the cutdowns..

and im actually gladi saw lauren instead of becky, i was upset when i found out she had broken her toe but lauren is really growing to the role! :)
i think she wouldve been better on broadway instead of bailey! my oppinion!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 5:09pm

Oh, Jesus...

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 5:11pm

Hahaha

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 5:12pm

oh jesus what?

[Kalimba]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 5:44pm

OMG, like Lauren, is that you?

[skander2]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 5:47pm

glad you enjoyed it!

[Hiloha]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 6:50pm

How long is Rhiannon out for?

[andrewcomp]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 6:53pm

She's not out. She's now the Elle standby. Well was, until tomorrow.

[Hiloha]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 7:26pm

Good. Wonder why all the Legally Blonde fans have stopped uploading bootlegs of the show. You think the die-hards would LOVE to compare the tour cast to the B'Way one. Hope Rhiannon gets to play Elle. She's just "so watchable."

[andrewcomp]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 7:43pm

I don't know what the big flip is about Rhiannon's voice not being amazing. I see the same people, who love Nicole Parker in Wicked for all of her "acting" over her singing, judging Rhiannon for having a not so strong voice. Ha. Yeah, anyway.

[andrewcomp]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 7:43pm

Double post.
Updated On: 1/26/09 at 07:43 PM

[Hiloha]

Posted: 1/26/09 at 7:49pm

I loved Rhiannon. She had wind. If I were to see the touring company, it would mainly be to see her.

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 1:24am

I honestly think rhiannon would do a really good job as elle. I mean, look at lauren! She has deff. Showed improvements sonce the MTV reality show so im suire rhiannon would as well! Out of laura bell, bailey, annaleigh, becky, kate, and lauren I actually like laurens elle character a lot more. Her elle is more fresh and she really has made the role her own! Ill admit, when the show first started and lauren came on it was a little different but by the end of act 1, your really attacthed! :) and I wonder what rhiannon would bring to the role?

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 4:05pm

And adding another thing. Lol

I really like how they do the 'omigod you guys' scene.

Basically the scren goes up and you see deltanus crowding margot holding a card in the air than she runs over to a table and everyone follows!
Than 'dear elle...blah blah' I really like the cheorgraphy of this scene. Well later after bruiser runs out of elles door!

Well the 'dressing room' frame comes from the cieling on a wire. The saleswoman brings a rack out from stafe left. She pushes it behind the dressing room and elle gets behind it than saleswoman and rack fo stage right. Elle comes throught the curtain! I actually like this a lot better than the rising platform on broadway! I just don't get. Since the show on bnroadway closed..couldn't they just add the delta nu house since they don't need it and same with other props like elles room since the tour ones a lot smaller? Idk

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 4:36pm

The house design and function as used on Broadway would very difficult and impractical to tour, particularly on the type of tour that Legally Blonde is.

First of all, those units from the Broadway production could not be directly integrated into the tour production as the proscenium opening has very different dimensions that the Broadway production had.. which is the case for any tour restaged from a Broadway production.

Second of all, the house facade itself, in order for the windows to be able to open, must be constructed as a solid build, ie "hard good". Hard goods of anything close to that scale are incredibly difficult tour due to the facet that require a LOT of room on a truck and are very hard to set up during a fast turnaround between stops. The Broadway house facade also had the doorway that descended into the show deck, which would require a very wide and deep trap which would be very hard to come by in most tour houses.

The multilevel interior of the house, as seen on Broadway, would also be a near impossible addition as well. It would have to be solidly built across almost the entire width of the stage and would, once again, be incredibly hard to transport and load in.. not to mention that because of the weight of the unit and the cast members on it would require massive amounts of counterweight offstage and some fly houses (stages) would not be able to support that weight without structural reinforcement.

The Elle bedroom set COULD have been designed differently tour, but once again, the set, as it was on Broadway, was impractical to tour.

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 4:56pm

Oh well now I feel dumb. I mean I knew they couldn't do it. I just don't get why they cut down soo much some of it wasn't neccesary. They could've done something with windows or something...right? And I don't see why there's not that many delta nus just a few

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 5:20pm

Well, you could have hoped for a standard drop painted to look like the house exterior, but unless it is a solid, and therefore EXTREMELY heavy, unit, you would not be able to have the Delta Nu girls opening up the windows. That requires it to be structurally sound.

Could the tour have been a bit larger? Of course, most can. the could have used an automated show deck, but it certainly isn't critical to the show.

Legally Blonde is a very deceptive show. each individual scene may not have looked overly complex, but if you add up the sum of the parts, it was a much bigger show than you'd think. Several of the set pieces (the Deltu Nu House, etc) are VERY large and actually complex pieces to load in and out.

The Broadway staging also relied VERY heavily on the large trapdoor center stage - which in and of itself was much more complex than you think. The trap platform itself also had the rising table built in and the revolve used for Elle's door. It was also very large in size compared to most traps.

The automated deck also had a few extra complexities.. the curved track that was required for the Deltu Nu stairs was more complicated than you think, especially since it had to travel through the space occupied by the moving trap door.. and the stair also had to be able to detach itself and attach to another track in the middle of the stage for one transition..

You also had to have the deep trap space for the Exterior doorway of the Delta Nu house and the golf flag....

Broadway productions can take a month or longer to load into and out of their Broadway homes. On tour, you have to be able to load in and out and transport to another theatre across a large distance within a day and a half. Speed is of great importance and weight is critical since PEOPLE have to do the moving. Some things must be smaller because they must fit into trucks and they have to be able to fit into a wide array of spaces.. some huge, some much smaller. The size of the auditorium has No relation to the amount of space backstage. I remember that in one theater, the last tour of Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan had to store set pieces outside in an alley during the show.

As far as the number of cast members goes, there is a reason why a touring cast is often smaller. In addition to the salary, actor's also have to be paid a per diem to help cover the cost of living on the road.. Even with a lower base pay that some tours have, it is more expensive to have an actor on tour..

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 5:48pm

Well I gues LB did amazing with what they had. But what about wicked? Did they even cut down a lot/major sets for the tour. Cuz they had the dragon on top. The only thing s I saw that were missing was the giant stairs on the soide anmd trap doors. That's it

Well legally blonde tour is good don't get me wrong and im sure it would rock compared to high schools doing it! Lol im glad they kept the lighting up frames around stage. Those are neat.

But they could've kept some kind of stairs for the delta nu house right? Idk

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 6:11pm

The stair case from the Delta Nu house actually weighed several thousand pounds. That isn't an insignificant thing to deal with. Also because of the height, it would have to come apart to fit on the truck. Supporting 12 the weight of 12 girls means the thing has to be INCREDIBLY sturdy.

Now, in regard to Wicked...

I like to call Wicked "smoke and mirrors." It's a very good magic trick. If you look at the Broadway production, it looks MUCH bigger than it is because most of the "set" is nothing more than decoration to hid the walls of the theatre. What is ON the stage is actually a reasonably simple.

Now, with a MASSIVE juggernaut like Wicked, it is a LOT easier to tour with large items.. They can sell out longer runs, so they can afford to have a much larger crew loading it in and out and they can take a few extra days between stops to compensate and to transport the show in a larger number of trucks.

The false proscenium on the Wicked tour is easier to move than you might think.. It is totally modular and has wheels built in, so it isn't TOO complex of a set up.

They DID simplify the set a bit for the tour, but people don't notice as much since they get lost in the bigger picture. The dragon is smaller, the stairs into the castle are significantly smaller and the show deck is much simpler since it is not raked like on Broadway, among other things...

Wicked also is not the type of show that will be playing in smaller markets, and therefore theaters, like Legally Blonde.

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 6:54pm

Well im not saying the staircase had to be perfect bhut maybe they could've added 2 steps to elles door in the sority house. Or something lol. Did you see the tour?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 7:13pm

I have not seen the tour yet, but I am very familiar with the national tour and its design.

My question - what purpose would two steps do? It wouldn't give anything close to the same effect as a full staircase..

[starfishy]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 7:36pm

I saw the Legally Blonde Tour in East Lansing on January 16th. We had the stand-in for Margot. The whole cast was quite talented. I was very impressed as they had large shows to fill.

Laura Bell had been in the rol for a few nights and was definitely back into the swing of things. She was the main reason I went. I feel bad for Becky, but glad that they were able to get Laura Bell back!

I was very fortunate to be able to meet Ms. Bundy after the show, and she was very sweet!

Go and see this show if you can!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 7:44pm

I think that Lauren would be much better than LBB vocally, but I'd have to hear her.

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 7:46pm

I have no idea! Lol are you here to make me look dumb? Lol

[arch_animal90]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 7:47pm

I have no idea! Lol are you here to make me look dumb? Lol