To purchase the Original Broadway Cast Recording of LEGALLY BLONDE, click on the image above.
Legally Blonde, the hit musical comedy based on the film starring Reese Witherspoon, starts previews in London tonight for what is said to be a limited run through March after an official opening in January. I doubt that will be the be-all and end all for the West End run of the show, which features musical and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach.
Director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell recreates his effective Broadway staging of the show for this new production, which stars Sheridan Smith as Elle Woods, with Duncan James as Warner and Alex Gaumond as Emmett. Other lead roles are taken by Susan McFadden, Aoife Mulholland, Peter Davison and Jill Halfpenny.
Legally Blonde is a great contemporary musical comedy, with a smart book and a memorable score. I’m glad to see it going places. The official site for the show is here.
Musical Cyberspace 
Playbill has up a gallery of production photographs for the show. It looks like fun. I’d be there in a heartbeat.
The show does look like fun. However, it looks like a carbon-copy of the fun the show already experienced on Broadway.
I absolutely HATE Elle’s Harvard outfit. The Broadway version was bad enough. Why did they have to add that unflattering blouse under that garish shirt? Blech.
As most initial professional productions of a show are. What’s the problem?
It’s always bugged me to a certain extent. It’d be nice to see new flavor added to certain shows. Then again, we don’t need another RENT 10.
But what is the likelihood that you or anyone for that matter is going to see the original production of a show in New York, on tour in the US, in London and in Australia? Sure, I think that when it comes to revivals, something new can be brought to the production, but why does it bug you so much when it comes to what is basically a transfer of a first production to various places around the world?
Saw this last weekend and it is not a carbon copy as the cast put their own stamp on it for sure! If the Broadway production had good foundations for a good show already, why reinvent the wheel, with regards to the set and choreography or whatever? It was fab! When Wicked came from Broadway, I thought it was fab – like loved it – and then people seemed to complain about how it was made British. How can they get it right? Not change it at all? Change it? Can’t please everyone, I guess!
I saw this show at the 5th Ave Theatre in March through the Broadway Across America; I had more fun than I expected to and was pleasantly surprised by the songs. If you get the chance, go see it!
I’ve only heard the cast recording for Legally Blonde but after listening to it a couple of times the songs are stuck in my head. It looks like fun and I hope to see it in London in the summer. 😀
I couldn’t agree more! Elle is supposed to be a woman of style and fashion (after all, she studied fashion merchandise)- so why would she suddenly wear that horrible outfit? Some outfits were changed a bit on Broadway when Baily Hanks got the part – and they looked so much better (‘than befooore’ – haha), though it seems impossible to find pictures of it at the moment strangely enough. 😛