The first national tour began on September 21, 2008. [15] Becky Gulsvig, who appeared in the entire original Broadway cast and underestimated the role of Elle Woods, was introduced as Elle Woods. Lauren Ashley Zakrin and Rhiannon Hansen, both finalists on the MTV reality show, participated in the national tour.[16] The original tour ended on August 15, 2010 in Vienna, Virginia at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. During its broadcast in San Francisco, the musical featured a song called “Love and War,” but when it aired on Broadway, the song was replaced by what is now “Positive.” [3] Another predecessor of “Positive” was “Beacon of Positivity”. [4] Legally Blonde had its world premiere in San Francisco, moved to Broadway for previews on April 3, 2007, and officially opened on April 29, 2007. It was directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell and the original cast included Laura Bell Bundy as Elle, Christian Borle as Emmett and Richard H. Blake as Warner. Written by Heather Hach with music and lyrics by Laurence OâKeefe and Nell Benjamin, the production received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and ten Drama Desk Award nominations. Legally Blonde premiered during pre-Broadway trials in San Francisco, California. In April 2007, the show moved to Broadway, where it received mixed reviews and disappointing sales.
[1] Jerry Mitchell directed and choreographed. It stars Laura Bell Bundy as Elle, Christian Borle as Emmett and Richard H. Blake as Warner. He received seven Tony nominations and ten Drama Desk nominations, but won none. The West End production premiered at the Savoy Theatre in January 2010. The West End production was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards and won three, including Best New Musical. The main original casts of Legally Blonde`s most important productions. Here`s a look at the original line-up`s achievements and work since Legally Blonde folded: In 2017 and 2018, Legally Blonde`s second UK national tour came with a new line-up. The premiere took place from 14 to 23 September 2017 at the Churchill Theatre, the last performance on 30 June 2018 at the Palace Theatre.
The cast included Lucie Jones as Elle Woods, David Barret as Emmet, Liam Doyle as Warner, Rita Simons as Paulette, Helen Petrovna as Brooke and Laura Harrison as Vivienne. Since the days Bundy was on stage as Elle Woods, the actor has been busy.[45] She starred in The CW`s Hart of Dixie, where she also brought her singing skills as a local cabaret lover to the city in How I Met Your Mother and had a regular role in Anger Management. She has also released five albums. Bundy recently expanded his legacy with Legally Blonde, directing productions of the musical at regional venues such as the Lexington Theatre Company in Kentucky. Earlier this season, she produced a charity concert called Double Standards at New York City Hall to promote women`s rights, health and empowerment. She will then play Charity Hope Valentine in an upcoming production of Sweet Charity in Los Angeles. In addition to the licensed orchestration, the original Broadway production also had a horn part, a viola and cello part, a second guitar and three woodwind parts instead of two. The first part of reed doubled with alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, piccolo and penny whistle; the second part is doubled on clarinet, flute, oboe, English horn and tenor saxophone; The third double flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon and baritone saxophone.
A film version of the musical aired on MTV in October 2007, and a reality series Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods debuted the following summer, as the production searched for a lead actress to replace Bundy in his departure. In October 2009, Sheridan Smith recorded a pop video for the song “So Much Better” with other actors. [23] The cast of Legally Blonde in the West End performed a medley of the show at the BBC Television Centre on 19 November 2009 during the Children in Need telethon. [24] A non-participating tour began on September 21, 2010 in Jackson, Mississippi. Nikki Bohne directed the cast as Elle Woods, Kahlil Joseph as Professor Callahan. The tour ended on May 15, 2011 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. The West End production debuted at the Savoy Theatre on January 13, 2010, after premieres on December 5, 2009. [19] [20] The original London cast included Sheridan Smith in the lead role of Elle Woods starring Duncan James, Alex Gaumond, Jill Halfpenny and Peter Davison.
[21] In the London production, the text of “Ireland” was changed. This orchestration was originally used for the first national tour in the United States, without the violin and with slightly modified reed dubbing.[22] The first reed player doubled alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe (optional) and English horn (optional); The second player doubled flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone and penny whistle. In June 2010, a live recording of the London cast was recorded with Sheridan Smith, Alex Gaumond and Duncan James. It was released on August 16, 2010. London Cast Recording used the same track listing as Broadway Cast Recording, with bonus tracks “Kyle the Magnificent” and music from Curtain Call added to the digital downloadable version.[64] [65] In April and May 2016, a production was staged at Leicester`s Curve Theatre. The cast included X Factor finalist Lucie Jones as Elle Woods, Ian Kelsey as Callahan, Tupele Dorgu as Paulette, Jon Robyns as Emmett and Danny Mac as Warner. The musical received mixed reviews, but was hailed as a fun and upbeat production. Ben Brantley, who reviewed the musical in the New York Times, wrote that the show was an “energetic, empty and expensive hymn to the glory of femininity.” He praised Laura Bell Bundy, saying, “She sings and dances perfectly, and she delivers silly lines as if she meant them.” [55] Clive Barnes, in his review in the New York Post, praised Heather Hach`s book, but criticized the “amorphous, synthetic, and incredibly empty music” and summed up the show as “an enjoyable, albeit noisy, night.” [56] Elysa Gardner wrote for USA Today that the musical was a “flattering trifle” and that the “cast ensures that events, no matter how condescending, are not irritating.” [57] Jeremy McCarter lamented in New York Magazine that the musical “evokes no memory of Tracy Flick, the student council activist who played Reese Witherspoon in Election before starring in Legally Blonde,” and wrote that the “manic drive” in Witherspoon`s performance in Legally Blonde was her favorite part of the film. [58] She, believing that the blonde is the problem, decides to become a brunette. She goes to the Hair Affair salon, where she meets beautician Paulette, who, after advising Elle that all bad hair choices are motivated by love, tells Elle about her dreams of meeting a handsome Irishman (“Ireland”), and encourages her not to give up or minimize her personal qualities. In the living room, Vivienne, who is talking about a party planned for next Friday, gives Elle an unexpected invitation and tells her that it is a costume party.
Paulette sends Elle dressed in a costume for the party with encouraging words (“Ireland (Reprise)”). After leaving Legally Blonde, Karl immediately followed with the lead role alongside Allison Janney in the Broadway musical adaptation of 9 to 5. He then played Neville Landless/Mr. Victor Grinstead in the Roundabout Theatre Company`s revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which also starred Chita Rivera. He worked off-Broadway in The Last Seder in 2012 before playing Rocky Balboa in Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty`s Rocky, for which he received a Tony nomination. He then returned to Roundabout in One The Twentieth Century alongside Kristin Chenoweth as Bruce Granite, another comedic role, and received a second Tony nomination. But it was his work in the musical adaptation of Groundhog Day that won the Karl Award Gold: he won the Olive Tree for his work as Phil Connors and a Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance when the show aired on Broadway. During the development phase of the musical, a demo recording of twelve songs featuring Kerry Butler and others under the name Elle was released. The demo included workbench versions of “There! Right there! ” (called on the sampler “Gay or European”), “Blood in the Water”, “Omigod You Guys”, “Serious”, “What You Want”, “Legally Blonde”, “Legally Blonde Remix”, “So Much Better” and “Take It Like a Man”, in addition to two songs that were not present in the final version of the show: “Beacon of Positivity” (which became “Love and War” for the previews and finally “Positive” for the final version of the show) and “Good Boy”, a song instead of “Ireland”.
[63] Legally Blonde is a 2007 musical with music and lyrics by Laurence O`Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. The film is based on Amanda Brown`s novel Legally Blonde and the 2001 film of the same name. A Hebrew-language production of Legally Blonde was scheduled to premiere in Israel in February 2020. The cast included Ania Bukstein as Elle Woods, Oz Zehavi as Emmett, Sassi Keshet as Professor Callahan, Hana Laszlo as Paulette and Mei Finegold as Brooke.[44] .
