Now, I’d hate to be seen as a wimpy reviewer afraid to give out bad marks, so today I’m reviewing the musical playing for the rest of the weekend at the 5th Avenue Theater, Legally Blonde. Usually I have very little negative say about a musical, because I can find the good in almost any show. So I suppose my review of Legally Blonde will be more “mediocre” than bad. But nevertheless, I was getting sick of raving about every show in town all the time.
I have never seen the movie Legally Blonde, because frankly, I didn’t think I’d want to. So I have nothing to compare the musical version against, but here’s my take on it: the show is humorous. Ditzy. Fun. But it seems to me to be more of the type of musical that 11-year-old High School Musical fans like to attend, rather than a serious musical. I’m never against a funny musical, but this particular one wasn’t side-splittingly funny, and I couldn’t find any huge redeeming qualities in the music or the humor that made up for the tween-oriented storyline.
Really, I’m right on a fence concerning Legally Blonde. To be upfront with my readers, I didn’t particularly want to see the show to begin with. A friend that went to see my favorite musical, Wicked, at my request, guilt-tripped me into going to her favorite musical in return. (She’s lucky I was able to find a $20 ticket to a weekday matinee, or the deal would’ve been off.) I went to the show trying to keep an open mind for my friend’s sake, which is probably why I’m not flaming the show altogether. The music is admittedly catchy and the plot is a cute, light story. And even though the music isn’t particularly complex and doesn’t really showcase any particular singers, the cast that’s performing at the 5th Avenue Theater is ridiculously talented and I was definitely glad to be able to see them all. The cast includes Becky Gulsvig as Elle Woods, who is a cute actress direct from Broadway who was the understudy for Elle in the original cast; and Coleen Sexton as Brooke Wyndham (a minor character, but Coleen majorly impressed me!).
On the flipside of the coin – Legally Blonde is a light kind of show for kids. If you quiz a group of middle school-aged girls (and possibly queer middle-school aged boys), the most popular musicals among them would almost undoubtedly be High School Musical, Hairspray, and Legally Blonde. (And if you can’t tell, my opinions of the first two are very low.) I consider it to be one of the watered-down, pop-style musicals that aren’t really designed for musical fans. The music is simple and the show overall is cheesy.
And yet, after saying all this, I have to admit that the opening number for Legally Blonde, also a big hit with young girls, “Omigod, You Guys!” has been running through my head since seeing the show, and I downloaded the soundtrack. So I guess I’m undecided. Here’s the short, condensed review for anyone considering seeing the show:
Rating on a scale of 1-10: 6.5
Appropriate for: ages 8+ (official rating is PG)
Best for: young children, people who haven’t seen many musicals, fans of the movie, or theatergoers in search of a lighthearted show
You can buy tickets to the four weekend shows at the end of Legally Blonde‘s Seattle run here at the 5th Avenue Theater’s website. Tickets are rather reasonably priced for theater, starting at $29 for weekend matinees. And I’m going to plug the 5th Avenue’s 2010-2011 season here, because it’s recently been announced, and I’m very excited! The 5th Avenue is going to be hosting fresh-from-Broadway shows such as 9 to 5, Next to Normal, and In the Heights, as well as classic shows like Oklahoma! and Guys & Dolls!
images from BroadwayWorld.com and Playbill.com
Loading ...