OMIGOD YOU GUYS! In 30 DAYS, New York City will be celebrating the centennial anniversary of a major landmark event that kicks off the holiday season…… The 100th Anniversary of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There’s nothing like waking up on Thanksgiving morning as you’re cooking that delicious Turkey and tuning in to see the epic Miracle on 34th Street featuring floats, giant balloons, some of the best marching bands from around the country, mainstream celebrities, and superstars such as Santa Claus. But there’s one core moment that always stands out with all of us and that is the performances from Broadway shows, as they stage center stage in front of the Macys store in Herald Square. With 30 DAYS in mind, we at New York Broadway Tours bring the tradition going once again with our popular TOP 30 BROADWAY AT MACY’S COUNTDOWN. Every day leading up to Thanksgiving Eve, we will be blasting show-stopping Broadway performances from previous Macy’s parade telecast. Of course, we will share the history of the musical in this long post as well. So without further ado, let’s kick off the countdown to a parade!!!

At # 30 on our countdown, we meet a very popular inspiring role model. You can say she takes on an epic makeover going from being a California fashion icon to becoming a successful Harvard Lawyer, in attempts to win the heart of ex-boyfriend who coincidentally goes there. Most importantly, she’s very authentic and learns to be her best self. We’re talking about “Elle Woods”, who is best known to be Legally Blonde. Based on the book by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name, the musical features a score by husband and wife composing duo Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe along with a book by Heather Hach-Hearne.

From the 2007 Telecast, Tony Award nominee Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods” and the cast come after the Dean of Harvard Law in Herald Square to show the world that “Elle” is the right material for the Law School in the showstopping number WHAT YOU WANT.

FUN FACT ABOUT THIS PERFORMANCE: As you might notice, the cast are wearing their show T-Shirts instead of their usual costumes they wear in the show 8 times a week. Around that time of the parade, Broadway shows were effected by the 2007 Stagehands Union Strike. Many shows including LEGALLY BLONDE was shut down for a few days till things got sorted out.

The musical was developed around 2004-2005 going through several years of staged readings and development lab workshops. It eventually would make its way to the musical theater publicly in Winter 2007 with its world premiere out-of town run in San Francisco, CA at the Golden Gate Theatre.

Many of its early reviews were mixed. Positive praise by the locals. However, some felt that despite the acting, book, and choreography, the score was looked as too generic.

Before arriving back in NYC, the show went through some rewrites including a few new songs cut and replaced by newer ones.

Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell. LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL would arrive at Broadway’s Palace Theatre in the spring of 2007.

The reviews were also mixed. Critics and audiences praised the high energetic performances. However some felt the musical was missing a bit of the spark as what people wanted from the 2001 film.

Despite all of that, the show went on to become a big hit for Broadway. However when the 2008 economic downturn hit, ticket sales started to tank. It closed in the Fall of 2008 after 30 previews and 595 regular performances.

The cast itself featured….

Tony nominee Laura Bell Bundy (later Bailey Hanks) as “Elle Woods”,

2 time Tony winner Christian Borle as “Emmett Forrest”,

Richard H. Blake as “Warner Huntington III”,

Tony nominee Orfeh as “Paulette”

Kate Shindle as “Vivienne”,

Tony winner Michael Rupert as “Professor Callahan”,

Nikki Snelson (later Nicolette Hart) as “Brooke Wyndham”,

future Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford (later Haven Burton and Kate Rockwell) as “Margot”,

DeQuina Moore (later Asmeret Ghebremichael) as “Pilar”,

Leslie Kritzer (later Tracy Jai Edwards) as “Serena”,

and

Olivier winner and 2 time Tony nominee Andy Karl as “Kyle”.

The show would also go on to be nominated for 7 Tony Awards consisting of….

BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (for Laura Bell Bundy),

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL (for Christian Borle),

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (for Orfeh),

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (for Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin),

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL (for Heather Hach),

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY (for Jerry Mitchell),

&

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL (for Gregg Barnes).

However, the show lost all its categories. The only Award it did receive was the Actors Equity Association Award for OUTSTANDING BROADWAY CHORUS

During its run on Broadway, LEGALLY BLONDE also made history as the first Broadway show ever filmed for MTV, and while the show was still running. It was recorded at the Palace Theater in front of an invited sold out audience, all dressed in pink. In addition, Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge, and Whitney Eve Port from the MTV show The Hills, hosted the historical broadcast. The MTV proshot airing was seen by over 1.27 million viewers.

Coincidentally, MTV continued to support the show, by presenting a reality TV show, that would to help cast a new fresh face to succeed original star Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods”, at the end of her contract. Named as THE SEARCH FOR ELLE WOODS, the reality show documented a group of aspiring girls in the epic callback bootcamp as they learn to embody and compete on who would play “Elle Woods” 8 times a week on Broadway. They would learn different scenes and numbers from the show along and prepare to perform it by a panel of judges who would critique them each week. That panel consisted of….

The show’s casting director Bernard Telsey of Telsey & Company Casting,

the show’s book writer Heather Hach,

and

LEGALLY BLONDE Ensemble member Paul Canaan.

In the end, Bailey Hanks became the winner, making her Broadway debut as “Elle” in July 2008. She continued on with the role through the show’s closing.

Besides Hanks, some of of the runner-up girls for the role of “Elle” that were eliminated would eventually find their way on Broadway laterincluding…

Autumn Hurlbert, who ended up appearing in the Ensemble and understudied “Elle”,

Lena Hall, who went on to win a Tony for HEDWIG,

Lauren Zakrin, who went on to understudy “Elle” on the tour but also appear on Broadway in shows including Rock of Ages and The Great Comet,

Cassie Okenka, who appeared in Broadway’s School of Rock the Musical,

Rachel Potter, who was the first to be eliminated that went on to do Broadway’s The Addams Family and the recent revival of Evita – The Musical plus competed on TV’s The X Factor,

and more.

After Broadway, LEGALLY BLONDE went on to become a worldwide phenomenon with productions everywhere. The original production toured the US, opened in London’s West End (winning the Olivier Award for BEST NEW MUSICAL), in Australia, and more. Later on, the show itself continued to be performed with more updated NEW productions in schools, community, regional theaters, and more. The show itself will be returning with a new production to the West End playing the London Coliseum coming in March 2027, led by Amber Davies as “Elle Woods”.

Could it hit NYC again soon? Who knows!! SNAPS to that.

How awesome is this performance?
Who saw LEGALLY BLONDE

#MacysParade #CountdownToMacys #BroadwayAtMacys #ThanksgivingDay #MacysThanksgivingDayParade #LetsHaveAParade

WATCH LEGALLY BLONDE’S MACYS PERFORMANCE HERE!!

https://youtu.be/NHV1zKbDVeo?is=LbiQxKWjVlWFMoAs

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