Legally Blonde to Receive Workshop in May

Legally Blonde, the new musical based on the hit 2001 film, will receive a private, staged workshop in Manhattan on May 19th and 20th.

Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, La Cage aux Folles) will both direct and choreograph Legally Blonde, which features music by Laurence O'Keefe (Bat Boy), lyrics by Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach (Freaky Friday remake). The musical is based on the wildly popular comedy which starred Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a sassy fair-haired fashion queen who after following her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School, defies stereotypes to prove that she's hardly a dumb blonde. The film--which inspired a sequel--was itself based on Amanda Brown's novel.

No casting has been announced for the musical, which was previously seen in a winter 2005 staged reading. Broadway dates are also unconfirmed, although the show will reportedly open sometime in 2007. MGM On Stage, Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals and Dori Berinstein will produce.

O'Keefe and Benjamin, who are married, have previously collaborated on the one-act musical Mice--which was featured as part of 3hree--and the off-Broadway musical Sarah, Plain and Tall.