So my sister recently loaned me the soundtrack for the Legally Blonde Broadway musical, and I liked it to much that I ended up watching the entire show (which was filmed and aired on MTV last year and easily available on Youtube, etc.) this morning.
And let me tell you guys, this musical. I have so many feelings about this musical.
Which definitely stem from the fact that I deeply love the movie, and probably like every other person who has seen the musical ever, I couldn't help making constant mental comparisons to the film as I was watching the musical. There were some pretty significant plot differences in the musical as compared to the film, and some of the changes that the musical made were... well...
Wait, let me back up. I want to talk about the film for just a second. I remember that when the Legally Blonde film hit theaters in 2001, I just sort of rolled my eyes at it, because all of the trailers and commercials that I had seen made the film look absolutely terrible and atrociously sexist as well. But then my mom, of all people - who is a lawyer herself - convinced me to give the movie a try, because according to her the film was not only truly funny but actually had a righteous feminist message as well. If the film was intended to be feminist at all, that was definitely not coming across in any of the marketing that I had seen. But I decided to swallow my skepticism and give the movie a try anyway.
And I'm glad that I did, because my mom was so right. The movie was both funny and genuinely smart in the way that it framed and called out all sorts of different sexisms, in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Of course it was a mainstream comedy film so of course it was neither perfect nor completely sexism-free (is anything really?), but overall, it was just a righteously awesome movie.
It is also, as of now, a righteously awesome Broadway musical.
But in the transition from film to musical, there were some pretty significant changes made to the story that I feel really undermine the feminist message of the film. ( For example... )
And let me tell you guys, this musical. I have so many feelings about this musical.
Which definitely stem from the fact that I deeply love the movie, and probably like every other person who has seen the musical ever, I couldn't help making constant mental comparisons to the film as I was watching the musical. There were some pretty significant plot differences in the musical as compared to the film, and some of the changes that the musical made were... well...
Wait, let me back up. I want to talk about the film for just a second. I remember that when the Legally Blonde film hit theaters in 2001, I just sort of rolled my eyes at it, because all of the trailers and commercials that I had seen made the film look absolutely terrible and atrociously sexist as well. But then my mom, of all people - who is a lawyer herself - convinced me to give the movie a try, because according to her the film was not only truly funny but actually had a righteous feminist message as well. If the film was intended to be feminist at all, that was definitely not coming across in any of the marketing that I had seen. But I decided to swallow my skepticism and give the movie a try anyway.
And I'm glad that I did, because my mom was so right. The movie was both funny and genuinely smart in the way that it framed and called out all sorts of different sexisms, in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Of course it was a mainstream comedy film so of course it was neither perfect nor completely sexism-free (is anything really?), but overall, it was just a righteously awesome movie.
It is also, as of now, a righteously awesome Broadway musical.
But in the transition from film to musical, there were some pretty significant changes made to the story that I feel really undermine the feminist message of the film. ( For example... )
