Legally Blonde's Orchestrations = Absolutely Shocking...

[dramarama2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:38am

Really their are some really quite shocking moments in the songs, and although I first thought it was the actual score, i'm starting to think it was Jankhe's orchestrations...
Firstly, "Chip On My Shoulder" is all over the place and i'm fairly certain that Jankhe has caused the Lead trumpet absolute hell, with continuous high notes. Well, I suppose the song is quite repetitive...
Second of all, "Legally Blonde Remix" sounds like it was written while he was drunk. The Bass & Drums drowned out the performers and the rest of the Orchestra. I also found this song a bit all over the place too.
And don't even get me started about the overture. Some real cringe material in there.

Anyone agree with me?

Or is this another one of these thing where I stand alone.

Updated On: 2/11/08 at 02:38 AM

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 4:06am

The show has orchestrations? Mmm, go figure.

I actually think they could just play it all in a Fisher Price
pre-school piano and no one would notice.

[sondhead]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 4:49am

I'd say there is some sub-par musical direction going on too.

No shape to any songs, makes them perform far below their full potential (which truth be told isn't all that high anyways). "So Much Better" especially suffers from a not very theatrically-suited arrangement that makes it hard to follow.

Course, everything else in the show sux too, so what are you gonna do?

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:02pm

dramarama2, I also cringed at many of the Legally Blonde orchestrations. There doesn't seem to be any coherent vision about what the show is supposed to sound like. It's just a cliched 1970s brassy Broadway rock band. Hairspray and Xanadu are two shows that benefit a great deal from orchestrations that sound authentically like the show's period and genre. "Time to Get Serious" is a notable exception. It sounds just like an American Idol ballad, and that makes the whole scene a lot funnier.

Would Elle and her friends ever listen to something that sounded like the Legally Blonde remix?

[Dirty_Rotten_Guy]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:19pm

my biggest problem with the orchestrations was they didnt sound very full, and almost canned, haha. i was in row j and could hardly hear them. especially the very first beats in "Omigod You Guys"...i was very disappointed, it wasnt thrilling at all.
but that also might have been sound problems because i had trouble understanding quite a few members of the cast too.

or maybe its just my ears. i dont know.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:34pm

i have to totally disagree

Ive been in a lot of musicals in London with far worse orchestrations(Fame, Damned etc ) i actually thought the orchestrations in Legally Blonde were very good for the type of music it is and thats the key point THE KIND OF MUSIC IT IS.This is a fun light score whats not using the music in the same context say Miss Saigon does.

So much better i think sounds great and Legally Blonde Remix as well???

i have to agree with Chip on my Shoulder though

All the LB haters on here are gonna say they hate the orchestrations anyway even if the have no idea what orchestrations are lol

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 3:41pm

i'm definitely going to agree with you on the canned comment. i sat 3rd row mezz and i was completely bored with the way the songs were going. it was almost impossible for me to decide the arch of any of the songs delivered. the only song i absolutely liked was Legally Blonde and even then, i kept trying to FEEL something and didn't at all...

maybe when the cast recording comes out, i'll feel differently. but who knows ¤shrug¤

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 4:16pm

"thats the key point THE KIND OF MUSIC IT IS"

My point is that I can't really tell what kind of music Legally Blonde is from the orchestrations. The dance numbers sound to me like underscoring from the original 1970's Charlie's Angels series. I think the show would work better if the orchestrations fit in with the show's time place and characters.

[dramarama2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:16pm

If you see Legally Blonde again, make sure you listen to the music in the dance breaks. The music sounds very "retroactive" and wow...Jahnke also managed to squeeze in the tune from So Much Better. You can listen to it here...
Legally Blonde Remix

[sondhead]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:42pm

"the only song i absolutely liked was Legally Blonde and even then, i kept trying to FEEL something and didn't at all..."

While we're at it.. can someone explain to me how that song even makes sense????

How can someone be legally blonde--as opposed to illegally blonde? And why is that important to the story / supposed to make you feel anything?

Or did they just want a title song and forgot that it was supposed to make sense. I'm gonna go with the latter.

[dramarama2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 6:52pm

I know!

Why is she singing about quiting Harvard Law and saying "Please let me be...Legally Blonde". What's "Legally Blonde" meant to mean anyway?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 7:19pm

Well, one definition of Legal is "of Lawyers" so I think they are playing on that word and Elle's want to be one.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 10:20pm

Someone suggested it that it was a play on the term "legally blind," which 5 years after seeing the movie had never even crossed my mind. Wow, I rhymed.

Back to the orchestration discussion.

[dramarama2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:40pm

"Back to the orchestration discussion."

We've pretty much established that the LB orchestrations are terrible. Unless anyone else wants to make a comment on the matter?

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:45pm

sorry, but my take on "legally blonde" is that she just wants to be normal and wants people to see her as smart, rather than a "dumb blonde", so, she wants to be "legally blonde" vs. having everyone think she's dumb.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:46pm

On the 2005 Workshop Demo, a lot of the orchestrations sound like music the girls would have worked out with. Kerry Butler's grating voice is present, though, so I can't really tell if that would have worked better.


ETA: Elle also sings, "Omigod, omigod you guys / he's all that and a side of fries."

Updated On: 6/4/07 at 11:46 PM

[sondhead]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 11:52pm

"Well, one definition of Legal is "of Lawyers" so I think they are playing on that word and Elle's want to be one."

Well, in the phrase Legally Blonde, "Legally" is an adverb describing the word blonde.

So, when not using the phrase as the dumb title of a movie, when actually using it in a slow ballady supposed-to-sound-heartfelt song, you are saying that you want to be legally blonde in the sense that you are blonde in a way that is legal instead of illegal. Why would someone want to write a song about that?

[broadwayboy1017]

Posted: 6/5/07 at 12:04am

i think its a great pop score...

[dramarama2]

Posted: 6/5/07 at 1:58am

B3TA07, where did you get workshop demo?

Is there somewhere where I can listen to it?

[JumpJumpJumpSoHigh]

Posted: 6/5/07 at 9:50am

As far as the phrase "legally blonde" goes -- in the movie, it's not actually in the script at all. But in the show, after the first scene with Brooke, when Elle gets her alibi but refuses to tell it, Callahan is VERY unimpressed with both Emmett and Elle. So he calls the entire team back to the office, but dismisses those two, saying "I don't want to see Ratty Corduroy or Legally Blonde again today." In his case, the ratty clothes = unprofessionalism... in her case, blonde = too stupid to be there in the first place.

So when she decides to leave later because of Callahan, she uses his phrase to put herself down in the song, singing about how she should just go home to her friends and drive around by the shore -- "That's fine with me / Just let me be / Legally blonde."

That make sense?

~JJJ

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/5/07 at 11:25am

it is a fun pop score (70s my arse) and yes the lyric legally blonde is in reference to her been put down by Callahan early at the jail after she refused to give up Brooks alibi.