Monday, October 15, 2007
Legally Blonde: The Musical
I have to admit, I have a slight weakness for musical theater. When I was a kid my parents insisted that we see all the classics, if only because they deemed contemporary entertainment 'inappropriate.' We should've been playing outside anyways.
It's midterms, and last night I was looking for any excuse to not study or write papers for a while. Surfing through the channels, I noticed that MTV was playing something that was almost music: the Legally Blonde musical. That's right, a Broadway show, beamed straight (well, maybe bi?) to my living room. Sadly, I was nothing but disappointed.
For all the accolades, I found the music insipid at best, unlistenable at worst, and tired either way. The entire cast of presumably talented people all sounded like they were talking in rhythm, never actually singing but occasionally belting. Way more than in a normal musical. Also, why does Elle sound like she's from the Midwest?
What really annoyed me the most though was the bizarre plot rearrangements. Why did we need to see Warner and Vivian's engagement right in Elle's face, as opposed to it having happened over the summer? Why was there so much extra filler dialogue? And, most infuriatingly, why did the entire point of the film (which should have been insufferable, but turned out sweet and a bit inspiring) get swept away? Why does musical-Elle need Emmett there the whole time to push her to succeed and hold her hand and tell her what to do, instead of movie-Elle who got pissed off and did it all on her own? Ditzy language aside, movie-Elle was really a feminist model. Musical-Elle is anything but.
All in all, I don't know what the big deal is, except for audiences gobbling up whatever test-marketed pap served to them, just like always. Seriously. This show looks and sounds like something cooked up by the same folks who gave us Haley Duff and the Cheetah Girls (minus Raven Simone).
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Now playing: Prototypes - Who's gonna sing
via FoxyTunes
It's midterms, and last night I was looking for any excuse to not study or write papers for a while. Surfing through the channels, I noticed that MTV was playing something that was almost music: the Legally Blonde musical. That's right, a Broadway show, beamed straight (well, maybe bi?) to my living room. Sadly, I was nothing but disappointed.
For all the accolades, I found the music insipid at best, unlistenable at worst, and tired either way. The entire cast of presumably talented people all sounded like they were talking in rhythm, never actually singing but occasionally belting. Way more than in a normal musical. Also, why does Elle sound like she's from the Midwest?
What really annoyed me the most though was the bizarre plot rearrangements. Why did we need to see Warner and Vivian's engagement right in Elle's face, as opposed to it having happened over the summer? Why was there so much extra filler dialogue? And, most infuriatingly, why did the entire point of the film (which should have been insufferable, but turned out sweet and a bit inspiring) get swept away? Why does musical-Elle need Emmett there the whole time to push her to succeed and hold her hand and tell her what to do, instead of movie-Elle who got pissed off and did it all on her own? Ditzy language aside, movie-Elle was really a feminist model. Musical-Elle is anything but.
All in all, I don't know what the big deal is, except for audiences gobbling up whatever test-marketed pap served to them, just like always. Seriously. This show looks and sounds like something cooked up by the same folks who gave us Haley Duff and the Cheetah Girls (minus Raven Simone).
----------------
Now playing: Prototypes - Who's gonna sing
via FoxyTunes
Labels: feminism, gay, Legally Blonde, movies, music, musical, rant, tragedy
