A Legally Blonde Musical Makeover???

While it didn’t make our recent Big Debate shortlist of which films theatregoers would most like to see adapted for the stage, we don’t want to rule it out as good idea. Legally Blonde - the 2001 Hollywood comedy in which Reese Witherspoon played a ditzy West Coast sorority queen who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School in an attempt to win him back – is being prepared for the crossover. Fox Theatricals, which produced Thoroughly Modern Millie in the US, and the film’s producers MGM are the powers behind the stage show. They’ve hired husband-and-wife team Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe to write the show’s music and lyrics. O’Keefe is currently represented in London by Bat Boy - The Musical, which opens at the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre on Wednesday. In an interview this week with Whatsonstage.com (See 20 Questions, 6 Sep 2004), O’Keefe comments on the new project: “I think Legally Blonde is actually very fertile material. At the heart of the story is a relentlessly positive character who solves problems in creative ways. That’s sometimes all you need for a good musical.” The show – which will have a book by Heather Hach and be directed and choreographed by Millie’s Jerry Mitchell – is aiming for a Broadway premiere in spring/summer 2005 and a London berth could follow.

Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.com

Related Content