Open Forum

 View Only
  • 1.  Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-25-2022 12:59
    Hello Fellow Educators,

    I am 90% sure we will do Legally blonde next year. We have around 5 really strong guys who can really sing. 5 more guys who can really act and fake it ( or are willing to get vocal lessons). We then have 6 girls who are really strong singers and about 6 who can sing but not like in choir. They are all super driven and really want to do Legally Blonde. We did Mamma Mia last year and Killed it. I am worried that the music is super difficult (like with the Harmonies). We will have a new Choir teacher and I dont want to kill her the first year, but am willing to raise more money to hire extra vocal supports. If oyu have done this show, what do you think about the difficulty. I was thinking if we have a small vocal ensamble that can carry, we can do it.  If you have done the show what is you opinion about the music? How easy is it to combine some of the harmonies? Will that be needed?

    Also how did you cast double cast all the parts?

    Thanks for your feedback!

    Megen

    ------------------------------
    Megen Gilman
    Theatre Director
    North High School
    CO
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-26-2022 08:37
    We are looking at both Mamma Mia and Legally Blonde as options for us next year.  My thought was Legally Blonde would be more accessible to high school vocal techniques/ranges because it does not fall into the category of rock musical.  Mamma Mia worries us because of the style of singing required.  I, too, am looking forward to reading the replies to your question!

    ------------------------------
    Stephanie Schultze
    Drama Teacher/Director
    Russellville High School
    AR
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-26-2022 14:56
    We did Mamma Mia and it was great. I would say Donna, Sam and Sophie have to be really strong vocalists. I think Donna had to hit C5 in Winner Takes it all, but does not have to hold it for too long. I am worried that I might not  have someone than can comfortable Belt in So Much Better. It has to be held forever!!

    ------------------------------
    Megen Gilman
    Theatre Director
    North High School
    CO
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-28-2022 22:19
    I have not done either of these shows, but I have seen them on various high school stages through the years.  What I'm thinking is that the music in MAMMA MIA has the same genre and feeling all through the show, whereas LEGALLY BLONDE has a variety of music styles within the show and can feature either males or females or non-binary characters in many scenes.  If I had the numbers, I would choose the latter for sure; and, I think my kids would identify with the story more.

    ------------------------------
    Kathy Siler
    Theatre Educator
    Payson High School
    AZ
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-29-2022 08:51
    While I am not a music director, I think that Legally Blonde music is on a par with Hairspray.  I have directed both, but not Mama Mia. There are parts for the voices in LB especially for the Greek chorus.  There are a ton of solos. The challenging thing in LB is that  songs that go on and on with transitions into other songs like "Want you want" and "Chip on My Shoulder".  Just make sure that you can cast a strong Elle - the actor never gets a break during the show and sings A LOT!  Have fun - it was one of the largest casts that I directed in my 16 years of teaching.  :)

    ------------------------------
    Marla Blasko
    Director/Teacher Theatre Arts
    Long Reach High School
    Columbia, Maryland
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 05-29-2022 20:50
    We have done both shows at my school. Legally Blonde is more true musical theatre genre than Mamma Mia and the book is infinitely better. It sounds like you have the talent you need. Definitely need to have strong Elles (double cast).  We have a large program so I double cast all principals. As far as the music, parts can be simplified chorally. But it isn't terribly difficult, in my opinion. I can share the link to our production if you're interested. Good luck. Your kids will absolutely love working on it!

    ------------------------------
    Katie Blackerby Weible
    Theatre Dept Chair
    Youth Performing Arts School
    Louisville KY
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 08-03-2022 11:35
    We did Legally Blonde last year with middle AND high schoolers - the music is not too difficult at all, especially if you are using the tracks you can just stick to the melody many times if needed. In many cases there are different parts more than there are harmonies to tackle. We had a girl play Emmett (as a girl) so we re-worked some of the Emmett lines to fit her range better but other than that we finished music rehearsals in two weeks with some music review rehearsals tacked on later in the process.

    Our biggest challenge with Legally Blonde was not the music at all - it was the TECH! There are something like 27 set changes, tons of props and set dressing, and with a cast of a few more than 40 we had HUNDREDS of costumes... you can be as simple as you want, obviously, but the music was definitely not our main battle!

    We only double cast a few parts - like I said I was lucky and had a huge ensemble. Our doubles were Kyle/Carlos, Padamadan/Dewey, and Jet Blue Pilot/Nikos. Quite a few of the girls played Delta Nus in addition to their smaller roles like Chutney, the Judge, and the Mom. Lots of the men were doubled as smaller roles (for example Harvard professors) and Frat Boys.

    Hope this helps!

    ------------------------------
    Elin Waring
    Penn-Griffin School for the Arts
    NC
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 08-10-2022 20:24

    I've done Legally Blonde and it was a big hit. Although that was 8 years ago and I'm not sure our community would be okay with the "Bend and Snap" anymore. 

    I didn't find the show overall to be vocally that challenging. Elle is challenging. It's an incredibly demanding role so make sure you have a dynamo that you are ready to showcase. She has a LOT of solos (and fast changes) and she almost never leaves the stage. The orchestra is also challenging. You really need two orchestras. A full musical theater band and a full rock/ pop band. We had to bring in quite a few pros because some of it was just too hard for our student musicians. And they'd handled Footloose the year before with no problem. So yeah, that's a challenge. 

    Other than Elle had a surprisingly strong vocalist as Vivienne which is good as she picks up some of the vocal heavy lifting in Act Two just as Elle's voice starts to give out (Literally I think they wrote it that way!). Other than that I had strong singers for Warren, Emmet, Paulette and the Sorority girl trio. But that was about it. Callahan and Brooke can practically sing/speak their solos if they have to (Brooke is more about finding an athletic dancer and Callahan is a harder acting role). And you do have some great show stealing acting roles that require almost no singing like Enid, Nikos and Kyle the UPS Guy. It sounds to me like you have more strong male vocalists than you probably need and barely enough women. That's pretty unusual!  But really, if you don't have an Elle, I wouldn't do it. She carries the show. 

    The show is kind of costume heavy and set heavy but I will say that one of the nicest things about the show is that all the ensemble roles are a HOOT! There are a lot of great little gems for the ensemble to play. From Carlos to Aaron to Chutney, Dewey, the D.A., Elle's parents, there are just so many fun little ensemble parts scattered all through the show! And they are all very distinctive. It's one of the few shows I now where your ensemble really needs to be character actors! Have fun!



    ------------------------------
    John Monteverde
    Drama Teacher
    A3: The Academy of Arts & Academics
    Springfield, OR
    john.monteverde@springfield.k12.or.us
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 08-12-2022 00:39
    Thanks! That was really helpful! We have the girls and boys too! So I am super excited! I love the advice about Cast someone really strong as Vivian for vocal support!!

    ------------------------------
    Megen Gilman
    Theatre Director
    North High School
    CO
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Legally Blonde Diffculty

    Posted 08-12-2022 02:53
    You are very welcome. I just noticed today that they are planning another Broadway National Tour of Legally Blonde so you should check and make sure you can get the rights. Sometimes they pull the non-professional rights when there's a National Tour. Good luck!

    Oh, one other challenge in the show is that you need two dogs! We had a chihuahua for Bruiser Woods and a Bulldog for Paulette's dog. The Bulldog was a big sweetie but the Chihuahua was a royal pain in the ass. Just a heads up. LOL