Previews for Legally Blonde start today, prior to an opening is in January.

Ages ago a promotional video of the number “So Much Better” was released on the official site:

In spite of being a little cheap and tacky, it’s a lot of fun, although Sheridan Smith, who’s playing Elle, looks like she’s been for a few too many rounds on the tanning bed and like she’s using a truckload of makeup to cover it up. Still, I guess that would matter less on stage and she sounded fine.

But more recently, the show performed on the “Children in Need” broadcast and it was terrible:

The bottom line, I suppose, is that the cast was not ready for a performance like this at that time. Smith and her fellow principle, Duncan James are both incredibly disappointing and it seems like that almost anyone in the chorus could turn in a better performance than they did. In this clip, Smith really looks too old for the role and she sounded terrible. I hope she has less of an issue with pitch in the theatre than she did in this live performance; please let there have been some kind of monitor problem that left her singing without being able to hear the music properly. Otherwise, Legally Blonde – which rests a lot on Elle’s shoulders – is not going to get the reception it wants come January.

Meanwhile, Playbill has up a gallery of production photographs for the show. Here’s just one:

Check out the full gallery by clicking the link above. It looks like such fun. The clips above notwithstanding, I’d be there in a heartbeat.