OMG, Legally Blonde: The Musical totally opens in London
Posted: January 14, 2010 at 12:24 pm | Tags: film, Film Adaptation, Hollywood, London broadway, US Tour
Legally Blonde: The Musical opened at London’s Savoy Theatre a couple days ago after past performance runs on Broadway and a U.S. Tour. It was up in the air whether London’s opinionated theater critics would embrace the kitschy, frivolous and over-enthusiastic musical which is a homage of American college culture and Greek life. Perhaps they would miss (or find very un-funny) many of the jokes parodying said culture which had American musical audiences guffawing over. To our delight, it appears that these fears were unfounded because most all of the London’s theater critic population are giving the Legally Blonde musical warm reviews and a positive reception.
The stage show is based on the 2001 comedy of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon. The musical’s narrative follows the film plot very closely; it tells the story of a beautiful, bubbly and (very) blonde sorority girl named Elle Woods who enters Harvard Law School to chase after the man of her dreams. Originally hailing from Malibu, California, Elle starts her journey on a date with her steady college boyfriend, Warner, whom she is expecting to propose. Unfortunately, it seems that the anticipation of attending Harvard Law has pushed him to re-evaluate his future in favor of someone more “serious”… so he dumps her. Not one to give up so easily on something she wants, Elle puts her brains and originality to the test and surprises herself by also gaining admittance to the prestigious school in order to redeem Warner’s affections. From there, Elle embarks on a hilarious, vibrant, touching and fashion-filled road to discovering her inner strength while making others realize there is more beyond the blonde exterior.
The team of Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin developed the score for the musical with the book by Heather Hach. The producer of the London show, Sonia Friedman, was quoted as saying: ”Elle is a great role model for women. She shows that there’s nothing wrong with wearing pretty clothes and lipstick, while still being a strong woman.”
During previews in London, throngs of enthusiastic females showed their support for the musical and embraced the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek humor of the show. Many of the critics admitted that despite themselves, they were charmed by the “sheer cheek” of the musical which seemed to know it was overdoing everything, yet reveled in the fact.
Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer said, ”I tried, I really tried to hate this show, but resistance is futile.” Paul Taylor from The Independent joins in his praising chorus by stating, “Oh my god, I’m like so totally going again.”
However, not all of London’s critics were won over as some deemed the musical “preposterous.” But even among the dissenters they all agreed that the stage version was better than the film.
Judge for yourself and enjoy the song, “Serious” performed by the original Broadway cast. (It’s the scene where Warner attempts to get “serious” about life and his future.)
Legally Blonde: The Musical first opened on Broadway in April of 2007. It ran for a year and a half before closing in October 2008. Currently it is playing in London’s Savoy and is on a U.S. Tour.
If you like what you saw, consider owning the DVD (for only $9.99) or obtaining the Original Broadway Soundtrack for $14.99. OMG!
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
The Discussion
see what everyone is saying
The London producers of Legally Blonde were clever by allowing critics to attend preview performances as well as the official first night. The audiences are loving the show – and their enthusiasm was a great way to rally those bitter old critics! I think that negative comments (apart from the Daily Mail of course!) were futile!