Legally Blonde understudies — Page 9

A friend of mine went Wednesday night and was disappointed in the understudies (although I think he was just excited to see Andy Karl on stage since we had seen his show the week before)

I'm going to come right out and say I didn't think Gaelan did too badly. I went in hearing all these stories about how bad she was, but I decided to go in and see for myself. I didn't think she was half as bad as I heard. True, there is no comparison to Orfeh, who despite the lack of material in the script given to make the audience love Paulette and truly cheer her on, has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand as soon as she walks onstage, whereas I think this was where Gaelan fell short. She hit all the right notes, and I disagree that she copied Orfeh too closely, except for maybe the "that's a good school.." line in which she got no laughs anyway, where Orfeh always gets them.


But I do think Gaelan tried to make it her own. I also think that Gaelan has a very strong belt, but her voice is more or less nothing SPECTACULAR. I mean, don't get me wrong, she has a very good voice, but Orfeh's voice is raspy and unique and doesn't sound like everybody elses, which I think is a good quality of Orfeh's that translates into Paulette and makes her unique and all the more charming.



As for Amber, although I did laugh my ass off during her entire show and loved her "ghetto" take on Paulette, she didn't do as well as I thought she would. She still was great, just not as great as I expected. She was way too confident during the "Bend and Snap" where the character of Paulette is supposed to be insecure. Also, her voice always AMAZED me in her roles as the judge and the store owner, but didn't do much for me in Ireland, maybe because she didn't belt or really sing until the end...her reprise was good though, and I also heard she was sick.

Updated On: 12/18/07 at 12:04 AM

And Gaelen sang at the "Broadway Sings for Toys" benefit tonight and her voice was crystal clear and beautiful - definitely the best singing I've ever heard from her.

agreed- Gaelen & Becky's number tonight was amazing! So beautiful.


and BARNONE, whoever you are, I think I love you.

Amber def had her own picture, Gaelen I didn't see it from the angle I was sitting at but I assume she had her own picture since Amber did.

Leslie used the pic of Orfeh with the dog as her picture.

Yes, Gaelen had a picture of herself and the dog. That was definitely something I was looking for.

They use a banner that just says 'Elle and Warner' in a heart, (eta: if you saw the Macys Parade performance, it looks like that), instead of the one with LBB and RHB's (I am so referring to Richard H Blake as RHB from now on :)) faces in the heart.

I just wish they wouldn't use LBB's headshot in What You Want when there's an understudy Elle on.

Updated On: 12/18/07 at 01:37 AM

That bothers me too. I noticed that when Becky went on and it seems like such an easy replacement to make.

Actually if they're gonna start fixing stuff I would rather they change the November calendar in "Chip" so that Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday where it's supposed to be...then after that please give Becky!Elle her own headshots. :)

Well, this is my personal opinion about the whole "replacing LBB". I KNOW Becky can handle the role vocally, but I don't think that she brings the "magic" to the role like LBB, or Annaleigh did. This is just my opinion though.

Oh, random question....when LBB leaves, do you think Becky has a shot of replacing her?

I think Becky 'has a shot' in that I think her Elle is *fabulous* (even if apparently her youtube clip is not, based on other posts here), and I adore her, and I think she would rock as the fulltime Elle...but no, I don't think it would happen because I don't know that LBB is leaving anytime soon anyway, but even if she is Becky is a really really great swing, and that might be more valuable to the show than promoting her. Although they did bump up Tracy Jai from swing when Leslie left, so who knows.

Any other comments on Jason Gillman as Dewey/Kyle? I know it's not the biggest part, but Jason was amazing as Norbert's understudy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and yeah I love him, so would love to hear some more thoughts.

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Jason Gillman is hysterical as Dewey. He plays it very over the top and very smooth.
I had no idea he understudied Norbert in DRS....I knew he was in the ensemble, but didn't know he understudies such a major role...anyone ever see him go on?

I wish Becky would become full time Elle, but I Would be sad to lose out on her doing all the other roles she covered. She is seriously fierce in ANY role.

Tracy Jai tried out for Serena just like everyone else and I guess it was easier to move her up because she could still understudy Vivienne. It would be hard to replace Becky since she understudies so many roles...but again, I'm kind of curious to see someone completely new on as Elle. I'm waiting for the day Haven gets to go on.

But the grosses have been slightly bothersome as of late....

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