OMIGOD!!!! 10 years ago today, the musical adaptation of the hit novel and movie Legally Blonde opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre where it ran for 625 performances.
The show tells the story of the most popular blonde California girl of them all, Elle Woods who follows her Harvard Law School boyfriend to win him back. On the way, she discovers more about herself and learns to be true to the way she is no matter what people think.
LEGALLY BLONDE features a score by husband/wife composing duo Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe and a book by Heather Hach.
The cast featured
Tony nominee Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods”,
future 2 time Tony winner Christian Borle as “Emmett Forrest”,
Richard H. Blake as “Warner Huntington III”,
Tony nominee Orfeh as “Paulette”
Actors’ Equity Association President Kate Shindle as “Vivienne”,
Tony winner Michael Rupert as “Professor Callahan”,
Nikki Snelson as “Brooke Wyndham”,
and
Olivier winner and 2 time Tony nominee Andy Karl as “Kyle”.
It was nominated for 7 Tony Awards in 2007 including Best Leading Actress in a Musical (for Laura Bell Bundy) and Best Score (Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin). But it lost all it’s categories.
Following it’s Broadway run, the show went on to become an International hit across North America, London’s West End (where it win glory at the Olivier Awards for Best New Musical), Australia, and everywhere.
During it’s Broadway run, the Broadway production of LEGALLY BLONDE made history as the first Broadway show ever filmed for MTV. It featured a whole performance of the show filmed in front of an invited audience all dressed in pink and hosted by Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge, and Whitney Port from the MTV show The Hills.
Because the MTV performance did so well, the channel continued to support the show by presenting a reality casting TV show to help search for a newcomer leading lady to replace Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods”. The winner was Bailey Hanks who played the role for the remainder of the run. The series was hosted by Haylie Duff (who also served as mentor of the aspiring “Elle’s”). In addition, they were judged and critiqued by the show’s casting director Bernard Telsey of Telsey & Company Casting, the show’s book writer Heather Hach, and cast member Paul Canaan (who appeared in the Ensemble every night). Each episode featured the girls in an intense callback boot camp learning material from the show and also doing scene work / being mentored with members of the cast. At the end of each episode, someone was eliminated. Some of the runner-up’s for the role of “Elle” who were eliminated went on to even better Broadway successes including Autumn Norman (who ended up appearing in the Ensemble and understudied “Elle” and currently starring as “Portia” on the tour of Something Rotten The Musical), Lena Hall (Tony winner for HEDWIG on Broadway), Lauren Zakrin (currently in The Great Comet), Cassie Okenka (currently in School of Rock the Musical), Rachel Potter (Broadway’s The Addams Family Musical, Evita – the musical, TV’s The X Factor (USA)), and more.
Happy 10 Years Legally Blonde!!! SNAPS!!!!
Legally Blonde, The Musical Trailer from the braodway.
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