You're the Elle that we want

I am, of course, watching Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, the reality show involving girls competing to replace Laura Bell Bundy. Just like I watched Grease: You're the One That I Want that searched for Danny and Sandy in the latest revival of Grease.

The Legally Blonde show is way better than the Grease one. It's not even a contest, really. The Grease show was based on a British show that cast Maria for The Sound of Music, and was largely reminiscent of American Idol. Each week, the finalists would perform a song, and that's really the sole thing they were judged on. If I recall, the finalists did do some work on acting, and we did see them perform group songs from the show, but the viewers voted, and the main basis was the individual songs. Which weren't from the show. Which weren't necessarily in the style of the songs in the show.

There are any number of problems here, not the least of which is that the viewers chose the winners. The American public doesn't necessarily want the most talented people; they want the most interesting people. In my opinion, it worked out; I really liked Laura and Max. But if I were the producers, the whole process would keep me awake at night. The other main problem is that so little of the process dealt with Grease. We saw them do production numbers, but that's about it. We were told they had instruction in dance and acting, but again, saw very little of it. It was almost entirely the finalists' solos each week that led to eliminations.

Part of the reason, I think, is that the audience already knows Grease. Well, the movie version, anyway, but the stage versions are starting to be based more on the movie than on the original stage production--as evidenced by You're the One That I Want, which wasn't in the original Broadway production. But since the London revival in the mid-90s, there those movie songs are.

Sure, people know Legally Blonde the movie, but the songs in the musical are entirely new. It was a perfect show to use for this kind of reality program, as the viewers know the story and the main characters, so they don't need primers on that, but they don't know the songs. It's a great introduction to get people interested in seeing the play (if they missed it when MTV aired it a few months back).

And the show is done much better. Each week, the contestants work on either singing or acting or dancing. The most recent episode had them working on a dance routine, and that's what they were judged on (in addition to their overall work). And they're doing material from the show itself--again, it gives the audience a bit of the show, but it also gives the judges (a known casting agent, the author of the book of the show, and an actor in the show) a chance to view each girl as Elle and see whether she works in that capacity. You know, like an actual audition would.

Plus, there's the awesomeness of seeing the girls living together, and all the cattiness that involves. The girl eliminated this past week refers to the other finalists as "little girls" and was completely bitter. One of the girls eliminated last week was told by the casting agent that she would make a good swing--which is quite the compliment, as the actress is only around 20--and she totally copped a 'tude, all, "Whatever, I want to be the star." Fabulous!

And if there's one thing I learned, it's that dang, some of those Legally Blonde songs are catchy. I periodically get "Omigod You Guys" in my head. And I only know, "Oh my God, oh my God, you guys. This one's perfect and it's just my size!" Pathetic. Also, it seems like the relationship between Elle and Emmett is a bit fleshed out in the musical, so I'm hoping a future episode has some of their scenes.

This all kind of reminds me of some of my thoughts on The Next Food Network Star, but it's far too late. Maybe another time.