Legally Blonde the Musical Reviews Mean Nothing
Published on Tuesday 12th January, 11.41am, Written by Carrie Dunn
I try not to read reviews of musicals, or indeed any press coverage of them.
Odds are they’ll be written by somebody who sees shows with songs as some kind of deviant art-form candy-floss for the soft-headed and the ill-educated. Sure, you might get the odd one or two enthusing about a Sondheim every now and then, but big, gaudy blockbusters? They’ll be hated.
When I went to see Legally Blonde the Musical before Christmas (having listened to the Broadway cast recording more times than I care to count), I enjoyed it a lot. What’s not to like? Catchy songs (with some great scoring, if you care to listen), a great cast, and a storyline which, while not as tightly written as the film, has the brilliant message of positivity and love triumphing over all. But big pink song-and-dance numbers aren’t to the taste of critics who want every single stage production to say something about the condition of England, or have some kind of ‘authentic’ working-class root, or end with everybody dead.
That’s why on my way out of the theatre, I texted an actor friend of mine saying: “Legally Blonde is AMAZING. The critics will HATE it.” And the PR and marketing teams know that only too well. That’s why they’ve run such a fantastic promotion campaign, generating a buzz, luring fans in on social networking media, and offering the West End’s first ticket lottery. Satisfied audiences are going to serve the show’s long-term future better than the imminent reviews just ask the creative team behind Les Miserables, which was panned in the press on its debut.
And I suspect that’s why they’re not going to be all that fussed about ridiculous whining from critics about “staggered press nights” (hey, here’s a thought you want to see it? Buy a ticket!) and people being “cast in the wrong role” (what, you want Duncan From Blue to play Elle, maybe?) and Sheridan Smith’s hair (for your information, she looks lovely). The inner critical cabal may be sniggering and rubbing their hands with barely concealed schadenfreudic glee while they threaten: “Cant wait to see what Michael Billington thinks.”
Well, I’ll tell you what he’ll think. He’ll hate it. But that’s not the point. The people who are paying for tickets don’t care what he thinks, or what you think, or what any of the critics’ circle think, because they love the show’s heart and energy and happy-ever-after ending. This critical backlash against Legally Blonde London before the reviews have even come out reminds of the ‘serious’ press’s snobbery about pop music: if teenage girls, gay men and fag hags like it, then it can’t have any merit. (Witness the references to “weird couples” and “hen parties” and “simpering teenage girls” in these derogatory reports about Legally Blonde the Musical.)
But they’re wrong. And I’d even go so far as to suggest that this huge moral panic about people liking something that the critics hate indicates a desperate fear over the reviewer’s role in an age where the audience’s enjoyment of a show and their word-of-mouth recommendations mean much, much more than the sarcastic, bitter, fun-sponge whining of purportedly professional writers.
Couldn’t agree with you more! How often are shows, films and music reviewed by critics who are not in the target audience for that particular product? It’s all very fair and well to criticise a show for a wobbly set, wooden acting and poor dialogue, but if a critic sees a show aimed at ‘simpering teenage girls’ then they have to put themselves in that position and ask if those girls (and not themselves) would actually like it.
Hmm. This sounds whiny and isn’t very likely to make me see the show. On the other hand, a good review by someone I trust would make me want to see the show. Sometimes if you go out a lot you get more discriminating and find you don’t enjoy all shows – you want more than just noise and costumes, you want genuine hummable songs and a great story – but some people get very angry if you criticize a project they personally are fond of. Overall, this sounds a lot like it was written as a PR fluff piece. Sure you’re not in the pockets of the producers?
Totally agree. I found Coveney’s article irritating and offensive. I hope to see your article in BWW again soon:-)
Hi Annie Oakley, no, certainly not a PR fluff piece, just a blog about a show I genuinely love and a response to an article I found patronising and offensive.
Fully agree with the challenges to the LB critical snobbery. I am a colossal musical fan and worked happily for several years as a performer in a couple of long-running hit shows the critics loathed when they opened. I believe critics should consider the artistic merit of a show and protect pop culture and mass consumerism bringing us to a place where we celebrate mediocrity or celebrate objectively bad or low quality writing / production / performance.
I do therefore fully support critics acting as “guardians” or “protectors” of quality and high standard theatre. This is an important role to ensure we don’t all end up with lower expectations in the theatre, satisfied with rubbish. But it seems LB and countless other productions have been famously slated but publicly celebrated by critics are out of touch with pop culture and the modern theatre going audience and who overlook high quality production and performance if it is simply not to their taste.
Annie – why exactly would you assume that someone who writes columns for a theatre blog does not go out a lot? It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me.
I see a lot of productions and I still like to think I am objective when analysing shows – I most definitely go beyond the noise and costumes, and I think this show ticks all the boxes, especially, funnily enough, the hummable songs and great story you mention.
I don’t think this column sounds whiny at all. It sounds positive, objective and I can tell you what it does NOT sound – it does not sound pretentious, like the article did that sparked this response.
You know what’s interesting? Most of the London theater critics ADORE this musical. It just opened at the Savoy last week. I was pleasantly surprised. I think the London critics may not be as stuffy as we thought they once were.
Tracy, I’m FASCINATED by that. I wonder whether the positive buzz about it has encouraged them to look for the good in the show, for fear of seeming out of touch.