Legally Blonde the Musical!

Full of bright lights and fun music, the musical “Legally Blonde” is very exciting and entertaining. The acting is great and the sets are superb. The plot is amusing and is perfect for a girls’ night out. One problem is that the singing is unclear. The lyrics are important to the play and often have funny lines in them but they are not clearly articulated so the audience cannot catch all the funny moments. Legally Blonde has all the elements to be a successful musical but something does not seem perfect. When compared to the successful 2001 movie “Legally Blonde”, it is missing that one percent that would make it a successful and long-running musical.

            Based on the book “Legally Blonde”, the musical, directed by Jerry Mitchell, has the same plot. It is about a stereotypical blonde girl going to Harvard Law School to follow someone she thinks is the love of her life. At Harvard she makes great friends that help her out in her academic and personal hardships. She overcomes various hardships such as a professor hitting on her and a rival that is the fiancé of her ex-boyfriend. She helps solve a murder case and later graduates as the Valedictorian of her year. She also realizes that the man who she thought was the love of her life did not really love her and is cowardly. She discovers a new love at Harvard, a man that is always by her side helping her at every step. Most of the scenes are fun and easy to watch. But the plot can be considered a chick flick and some people may not want to come and watch it.

            The acting allows the audience to be focused on the musical. But at random moments, the Delta Nu sisters pop up out of nowhere with loud music and bright lights. The Delta Nu sisters are best friends of the main character Elle Woods. They were part of a sorority in college. The bright lights, fun songs, and quirky dances are fun to watch but they break the mood and make it hard for the audience to concentrate on the musical again. The friends are supposed to create a happier and lighter mood for the audience, but since many people sing together and the singing is not well articulated, it is hard to hear and understand the lyrics, which has many funny parts.

           The movie “Legally Blonde” was fantastic and people looked forward to the musical. But compared to the movie, the cast of the musical is weaker. Sure, they can act, sing and dance. But Reese Witherspoon created a strong image in the movie and was able to make the audience fall in love with her. For these audiences, Bailey Hanks can be a disappointment. There is nothing wrong with her performance; it can even be described as being outstanding. But for the people that saw the movie, there is something missing in her performance. It is unfair to compare a musical and a movie. But although Bailey Hanks is excellent in the musical, she is not able to portray the real charm and sweetness Reese Witherspoon was able to bring out in the character Elle Woods. 

            “Legally Blonde” is a hard piece of work to review. Everything is great, yet because it has something to be compared to, it is not doing well. There were many empty rows in the audience. “Legally Blonde” the musical is a perfectly amazing musical itself. But people had high expectations for the musical, and the musical just did not live up to these expectations. People say that a movie is never as good as the book. But like it is impossible to get everything from a book to a movie, it is impossible for a musical to be like the movie. The circumstances are very different. Although I agree that the musical is not as great as the movie, I also think the musical “Legally Blonde” itself was astonishing. It was able to take my worries away for two and a half hours and allow me to just half fun. But because the musical had to perform in the shadows of the movie, the musical was not as successful as it was expected to be. “Legally Blonde” will play its final performance on October 19, 2008. It will be the last performance after it opened in Palace Theater on April 29, 2007. The musical will have played 595 regular performances and 30 previews. The musical is only closing after one and a half years.  If anyone wants to watch an energetic and fantastic musical, they should get tickets soon and make sure to leave their movie memories behind! With this advice, they should have a great night out, laughing and crying with Elle Woods through her journey at Harvard.