Saturday, October 13, 2007
"What You Want": Legally Blonde Makes MTV Debut Oct. 13
Playbill News: "The broadcast includes the Broadway musical in its entirety as well as behind-the-scenes footage and a pre-show, celebrity- studded 'pink carpet.' The latter features the cast of the MTV series 'The Hills,' including Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port, who hosted the pre-show Pink Carpet in front of Broadway's Palace Theatre."
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17 comments:
what a crazy transition for mtv to make, what an interesting choice as well. it seems to be a crazy way to introduce the mtv generation to musicals, though i do think it will eventually help the cause.... it is also a great way to open the market and possibly reinvent the musical? Who knows... the possibilities are endless. i am interested to see the results of the air and the statistics to see if it was well received.
I feel like it is way too early for the Legally Blonde's to make a decision of putting the show on air. If it is because the main target are the generation who doesn't spend 200 dollars on the two-hour show, then I guess it is worth a try. But I don't think it will help the ticket sales for a while as they may hope it.
i was happy to watch for many reasons, but one was definitley to add to the number of people who watched it, because i thought that if there were a good amount who watched then possibly they would continue the tradition and air more shows!
I think it was a good decision for MTV to air Legally Blonde. It brings Broadway to some people who have never even heard of musical theater, or at least have never thought about actually going to or enjoying a show. I would not be surprised if it helped boost ticket sales, but I think the more important effect is going to be bringing broadway to people other than the middle aged upper-middle class. Whenever the arts can expand beyond any social barriers and introduce itself to new groups, it is always a good thing. Even if that introduciton is through Legally Blonde.
i think its great that broadway is introducing itself to a new, young demographic. broadening horizons all across america with musical theatre touches my heart. but in truth this whole legally blonde/mtv thing makes me nervous. what happens to the less 'pink' shows on broadway. will the mtv crowd who take a group trip to NYC to see legally blonde even give a second thought to 'a year of magical thinking' or another heavy play? or will they only come visit for the teenie bopper shows which mtv tells them to see?
yeah, but with younger demographic last? How many times can a 12 year old really convince her parents to see Legally Blonde? Is Broadway prepared for watching these girls grow up?
It's a market that appears to be renewable. At all times there will be 14 year olds and they will drag their parents to musicals, but it is not a perfect market.
I am glad that mTV exposed it;s audience to a different type of performance other than Real World, but I hope that Broadway can carry the same success of Legally Blonde into some musicals with more substance.
So I watched this for a little while while it was on TV, and realized two things - I remembered why I don't watch MTV, and also this is probably one of the worst shows ever produced. I had originally thought that I would maybe go see the show if I could get tickets for free, but now I don't think I'd bother wasting my two hours even if I didn't have to pay for a ticket.
On the positive side I suppose, it does bring Broadway to the "masses" even if it's the lowest end of Broadway. And I'm sure people who were watching it did enjoy it and maybe they'll be inspired to go see other Broadway shows, which would be great and probably improve their lives immensely.
But as far as MTV being the ones to air it, I don't think it would have gotten on the air any other way - certainly not on PBS's Great Performances.
I didn't watch the whole thing, but it really solidified my view on why you just. don't. film. theatre for anything but archival purposes. It looked pretty awful. Theatre works well live, and on TV it just looks flat and boring. The hosts were HORRIBLE, I could hardly stand the way it was all done. It looked half-assed, like they did it the night before. It was just bad. I don't think they'll be doing anything like this again anytime soon...
I think that while this can introduce young people to musical theatre, it might also raise the demand for cheesy shows like legally blond. I would hate to see theatre go the same direction as film, where substantive material is often reserved for the independent market.
What scares me the most about this was the inclusion of a preshow before the MTV airing, and the noted names to be arriving included the stars of "The Hills", who probably wouldn't know good theatre if it came up and bit them. MTV is smart doing this, capitalizing on the success HSM has brought to Disney. They also featured a big premiere pre-show with Disney stars, but the biggest difference was that it was for a movie, not a real theatre show.
This move to broadcast Broadway on MTV has received a lot of criticism for cheapening theatre and by putting it on television somehow we are making theatre less valid as an art. Well we are really just creating a divide that in my mind will be really good for Broadway. We are taking musicals such as Legally Blonde that are designed to be blockbusters dragging in the masses in order to try and make some money. Though it would be nice for all theatre to break the bank like wicked, this is not realistic, this however means that theatre will remain a form of art where more sophisticated artsy shows will still exist, even if it is not the mainstream.
Maybe I shouldn't speak because I haven't seen the show yet.. but every time I hear about this musical I think about what designers actually worked on this musical. Then I think about Doc's lesson on (I think it was) the jobs of a theatrical designer. 1. Get Paid. And this musical is obviously selling well. However, even though (most of what I have heard about this is only form word of mouth) Legally Blonde seems like a horrible idea for a musical, it is a nice idea that even MTV can get into the theatre.
As one of the many who will be watching the production from a video tape it was recorded on, lets just say im still intrigued. What I am curious about, though, is the exact agreement for how often and how many times does MTV have the right to air the "Legally Blonde" production. If it is an open-ended agreement, does that mean that the artistic, production, and cast teams get paid per the number of air slots the show gets? Because it seems as though additional compensation would be appropriate if MTV will be airing the recording multiple times.
I actually got out of Crew early on Saturday and watched this with Peter and Kelli. This is my type of musical and can see it will be a great success with audiences of all ages. It is a lot like the movie too.
i watched this not because i wanted to but because everyone's making such a big deal over it.
imho MTV is the source of the plague that is destroying society, and now it's spreading to theatres. granted, its nice to see a new audience brought to the theatre, but if its at the expense of dumbing down everything, then is it really worth it?
I feel like out of all the musicals to be put on the air; considering the season and shows that are on Broadway, this one is the best to show and by far the most commercial. However, this isn't the first musical to be aired, there were many others on PBS and other channels such as showtime and HBO however, it is important to mention that this is probably the most publicized musical to be aired, I just wish that the show picked would have had some more artistic merit to it however, with a demographic like the viewers of MTV something upbeat is necessairy...
I'm really conflicted about the decision to air Legally Blonde on MTV. On the one hand, they definitely got a huge viewing audience. Anyone who didn't want to spend money on a ticket (first to New York and then for the show) got to see a light-hearted musical. On the other hand, the show is so terrible. My housemates and I watched it and I could not stop thinking about how bad the show was. The whole thing sounded rushed and thrown together. The leads were horribly cast. Don't even get me started on the design. I hope this doesn't inspire more fluff theatre instead of serious dialogue.
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