Legally Blonde tour review (10/4)

[James885]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 1:07am

I had the pleasure of catching the show tonight in Baltimore. This was my first time seeing the show live, although I saw the MTV broadcast several times. Overall I was impressed with show.

All the leads were in this evening, including Becky Gulsvig (although I'm kind of curious see Rhiannon or Lauren's Elle), D.B. Bonds, and Natalie Joy Johnson, whom I'll get to in a moment.

As I'm sure most people are aware of, the sets for the tour have been downsized a bit but a lot of the changes aren't real noticeable unless you're familiar with the Broadway production. The biggest change is the giant sorority house and the staircase that has been removed for the tour. The set for "Serious" has been slightly simplified. The judge's bench doubles as the toilet and Paulette's vanity doubles as the shower stall. The light-up proscenium is still there. I didn't miss the lack of automation, and seeing the cast move all the sets around themselves was actually kind of cool.

Watching the opening number without the aforementioned sorority house was a little awkward at first, but I thought the staging made up for it. Since the stairs were gone, Elle's door is on ground level, so everything kind of revolves around that. There's a minor lyric change in the song since the bit where the sorority sister slides down the pole is gone. There was also another lyric change in "There Right There". After Nikos says "I'm straight", Carlos, instead of saying "You were not yesterday" now says "You watch Project Runway".

The staging for the most part remains the same as that of the Broadway production. One change that I liked was the new staging of "Legally Blonde". Instead of having part of the song take place in Elle's room with Elle on one side of the door and Emmett on the other, the entire number now takes place in the empty courtroom with the two singing directly to each other. "Whipped Into Shape" has also been slightly re-tooled. Some entrances are re-staged. For "Positive", the Greek chorus enters through the doors to the classroom, and during the "Bend and Snap" scene, they pop up from behind the hairdressers.

The cast is great. The ensemble is tight and engergetic and all the leads are in fine shape. Glad I got to see Rhiannon as Margot. I will just comment on those who stood out:

I very much liked Becky Gulsvig's Elle, even more than Laura Bell Bundy's take on the character. Becky managed to bring a little more intelligence to Elle, and have across as not just a ditzo, but a ditzo who's also smart underneath. Her "So Much Better" was great.

Loved Natalie Joy Johnson. She really gets a chance to show off her stuff in the role of Paulette. Her voice is not as strong as Orfeh's but she made the role her own and brought her own flare to it. I'm not a big fan of "Ireland" but she really sold the song, especially the reprise. She and Becky had great chemistry.

Megan Lewis (Vivienne) and Jeff McLean (Warner) were both outstanding. Megan has a great voice and really nailed the Legally Blonde remix.

My biggest problem with the show has been, and still is, the book by Heather Hach, which sacrifices the development of some of the other secondary characters (Warner and Vivienne) in favor of beefing up the Elle/Emmett relationship. Since this has been discussed to death, I won't go into it except to say that I wished we could have seen more of Vivienne/Warner. The line that Elle says near the end of the show, "Vivienne dumped you didn't she?" really got me thinking. I wish we could have seen Warner and Vivienne break up. It would have also been good to see throughout the show a little more of the effect that Elle's arrival at Harvard has on their relationship. But that's just one of the many issues I have with the show's book.

That being said, the tour is very entertaining so I'd certainly recommend it if it's coming to city near you. I might actually catch it again when it comes to the Kennedy Center in December. It's not high art by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a nice way to spend 2 and a half hours.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 1:10am

The judge's bench doubles a toilet in the Broadway production, too.

[James885]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 1:13am

Oh thanks, DRSisLove. For some reason, I thought they had a separate set for bathroom on Broadway....

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:32am

How was What You Want staged without the staircase?

[sgv123]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:36am

they were on satge level with either a door or a big dresser, i cant remember which. they had that for omigod you guys as well.

[James885]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 10:41am

Yeah, the first part of What You Want was staged with Elle coming out of her door on stage level. The choreography was basically the same, but there was just no staircase for them to walk down. The rest of the number was the same as the Broadway production.


I also forgot to mention the end of "So Much Better". Since one of the ensemble tracks was cut they were short a girl, so when the Delta Nus spell out Elle Woods at the end, it ended up as E-L-L-E W-O-O-D. The last sorority sister on the right then picked up large white purse and turned it around to reveal the letter S. I thought it was kind of neat.

Updated On: 10/5/08 at 10:41 AM

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:04am

Thanks for the review. Now I can know what to expect when I see it in August.

[ejgirls89]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:13am

great review :) its always fun to hear what other people think! thanks!!

i think id have to disagree on warner being fabulous, but thats just me! haha

[karen24]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 12:17pm

I don't understand the point of changing that lyric in "There! Right There!" Why was it necessary? I think the original one is funnier.
Thanks for the review! It's coming to my town (Rochester, NY) and I've been thinking about seeing it.

[sgv123]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 12:48pm

The "you watch project runway" got a bigger laugh than the original line on broadway.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 1:42pm

Thanks for your review! Can't wait to see this in January!