Legally Blonde: the Musical study- Page 2

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 2:51pm

I like how there's an entire song about "Legally Blonde" when really it makes no sense, even in the context of Callahan's remark. Come on, it was just a cute and punny title used for the movie.

I totally agree with this. I don't dislike the song, but some of the lyrics just don't make sense, like when Elle says "just let me be 'legally blonde'". It's pretty clear they just wanted to throw the title into a song somewhere. IMO, the song for this moment/scene could have been a lot better.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 6:34pm

Broadway Abridged's Legally Blonde is probably the funniest piece on the site.

But honestly, why analyze the bad parts of a mediocore musical when you can analyze the awesome parts of an amazing musical? Richer benefits, imo.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 6:44pm

This thread just brings up all the things that bug me about Legally Blonde's book. I love the film and still enjoyed the show as long as I ignored the gaping plot holes.

I personally hate the 2-second U turn in Vivien's character in the musical. They completely threw out the idea of Vivien first thinking Elle was in fact using her sexuality to get an in. Instead, musical Vivien defends Elle like she's her best friend but there is no character arc to get her there.

And while What You Want is certainly a big musical dance number, couldn't they have turned the end into the end of Elle's video essay submission instead of her being able to bypass Harvard Security (and living in Boston and working for a college myself, the security on admissions is tight!) to perform a dance number that has the male admission board drooling.

And I, too, preferred the earlier Kerry Butler version of "Legally Blond." I hate the "what about love" part. The love part isn't why Elle came back to Harvard to defend Brooke. In fact, why did they eliminate the female Harvard professor? She's the one that told Elle to not let a man make her leave.

Okay, off the soap box for now. Oddly enough, I do still enjoy the show, mainly because the potential for good ol' fashioned musical fun is there.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 7:07pm

This question came up before: why do people assume the "crime" took place in LA?

I only saw the musical once and have never seen the movie....please fill me in. (I always just assumed the crime took place in boston)

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 7:17pm

jennamajig: I KNOW, I can't stand that they didn't include Prof. Stromwell or Dorky David. The "What about love" part also makes it awkward because Emmett and Elle don't get together until the end of the musical, which takes place years later (as happens in the movie because I guess they feel they can't stray too much from it), even though Emmett told her he loved her right away.

As for where the crime happened:

In the novel, the crime took place in LA. Elle was at Stanford, though, not Harvard.

In the movie, the crime took place in Boston--Brooke had moved to MA to live with her husband, presumably.

As for the musical, I think it's still MA.

Updated On: 2/22/09 at 07:17 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 7:21pm

Kind of what I thought. I was worried I blatantly missed something. (not really worried.)


I never knew there WAS a novel!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 7:26pm

Yeah, the movie is very loosely based on it. Novel Elle is a lot more believable as a law student (it's based on the experiences of the author during her own legal studies); she actually wrote a real statement of purpose and had been an anthro major with an emphasis in different cultural fashions, not just a fashion major. Also, there's no love interest, which is very Girl Power! but not as fun for an Emmett fan like myself. I do like that they develop Warner more, though: he didn't really want to be a law student but felt pressure from his family. Really, he wanted to go into film, and Elle had encouraged him in that. The responses of her sorority sisters are more believable, too (like "why are you studying all the time, we never see you anymore).

[jennamajig]

Posted: 2/22/09 at 8:09pm

Spork: Dorky David! How could I forget about him? I love the scene where Elle makes up their night of passion to help him get a date. That could have worked very well on stage. Alas, a gal can dream, can't she?

Movie Elle seemed so much smarter than Musical Elle. It could just be Reese, of course, but the musical's book doesn't help. Right off the bat, Elle seems so superficial instead of a genuinely smart girl who just needed a kick to realize just how smart she actually is and that she dream and get so much more than being a rich wife. Even when she makes her triumphs (all with Emmett's help - he does not need to be in the scene where she and Paulette go to get her dog back; Elle comes up with the Common law marriage idea on her own in the movie), she still seems, well, kinda ditsy. I blame the book, of course.

And, I, too, assumed the crime took place in MA. The Cape (and Boston proper, really) is a common place for the rich to have a home.

And Spork, I agree, that I like how Warner is developed more instead of simply made out to be a one dimensional bad-guy. While you think he's a douche, you can see how his heart isn't in law school and that he's only trying to live up to what his parents want. I liked the coda at the end saying he quite and went back to modeling.

And randomly....Paulette had time to date the UPS guy awhile, get married, and have two kids, with the third ready to pop in two and a half years?! Fast engagement I suppose and maybe the first two kids were twins...she was only pregnant with #1 in the movie.

[Azuah.]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 12:56am

something that I wondered about with the book is the whole perm thing. Yes you can't get it wet for 48 hours, but she could have easily said she wore a shower cap and that would've been it.

Silly, but it's always bothered me.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:07am

I think the more important thing was that she caught her in a lie she wasn't prepared to cover up, and she got flustered. She obviously wasn't expecting anyone to catch the perm thing.

However, it was dumb the way the musical had to demonstrate it with Enid.

[Dazeto12]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 1:58am

Yeah! When Elle segued into the whole "Return to the Scene of the Crime!" spiel, I was kinda just like "...Really?" Hack probably figured she couldn't produce a serious (heh) enough version of when Elle catches Chutney in her lie in court without it getting laughed at...

I love this thread, by the way!

[sayokay]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 5:15pm

I think the shows success should really owe it all to Laura Bell Bundy. She seemed to work best with what she had, and made those non-funny lines funny.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 7:52pm

Who said Brooke was still living in LA? I don't think LA is ever mentioned except that she attended UCLA.

SporkGoddess: What are some other ways they could have staged Elle's admissions number? I've thought about it a lot. "What You Want" makes some sense in that they couldn't simply translate a video essay onto the stage.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 10:45pm

Maybe have her sing her SOP while the admissions committee is meeting. The video essay was cute in the movie, but even a ditzy blonde should be able to follow simple application instructions. Also, speaking as a current grad school applicant, without an SOP her file would have been considered incomplete and not even looked at.

I love "What You Want" until the admissions committee scene--they could have just ended it with Elle finding out about her acceptance and not shown the committee. In real life, her numbers were enough that it's not strange Harvard could have accepted her without considering her good looks.

And, funny, I thought LBB's performance contributed to Elle appearing ditzy and only functioning because of dumb luck.

Updated On: 2/23/09 at 10:45 PM