OMIGOD, You Guys! LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL arrives at OCPAC September 8 - 20

COSTA MESA, CA -- The First National Tour of LEGALLY BLONDE - THE MUSICAL will begin performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on September 8. LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL follows Delta Nu sorority superstar Elle Woods, an underestimated blonde who doesn't take "no" for an answer. When her boyfriend dumps her for someone more “serious,” Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

In its first year on Broadway, LEGALLY BLONDE - THE MUSICAL earned seven 2007 Tony® Award nominations, ten 2007 Drama Desk Award Nominations, a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award and the chorus of the musical was honored by Actors’ Equity Association’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) with the first ever ACCA Award. The musical also ranked in the top ten list of the most requested Ticketmaster “Arts & Theatre Events” for 2007. LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL received three 2009 Touring Broadway Awards in New York City on May 4, 2009. The show won awards for Best New Musical, Best Production Design and Best Choreography of a Touring Production. The Awards, presented by The Broadway League, honor excellence in Touring Broadway. It is the only such national award.

Becky Gulsvig, the Elle understudy in the original Broadway cast, plays Elle Woods in the tour. Gulsvig was recently seen on the 63rd Tony® Awards performing a portion of "So Much Better" the tour-de-force first act closer from the show. Also joining the tour cast is Natalie Joy Johnson as Paulette, Elle's salon confidante. Johnson originated the role of Enid in the Broadway production. Fans of the MTV reality show Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, which premiered on June 2, 2008, will recognize two familiar faces in the tour casting: Third runner-up Rhiannon Hansen plays one of Elle’s best friends Margot and fourth runner-up Lauren Ashley Zakrin is an ensemble member and also understudies the role of Elle. The reality show represented the musical’s second venture with MTV. In the fall of 2007, MTV aired LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL in its entirety (starring original Elle Laura Bell Bundy) to stellar ratings and the broadcast show was subsequently nominated for two 2007-2008 Daytime Emmy Awards.

The original Broadway cast recording for LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL was released on Ghostlight Records, an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records, and captured the No. 1 slot on the Billboard Cast Album chart and charted at No. 86 on the Billboard Top 200. The album has continued its success, charting every week as one of the top-selling Broadway cast recordings and it soared to the Top 10 albums (of any genre) on iTunes once the show premiered on MTV.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL is based on the novel by Amanda Brown, which was later adapted into the hit 2001 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Reese Witherspoon and directed by Robert Luketic. The film also hatched a sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde in 2003. A made-for-TV tie-in movie Legally Blondes recently premiered on the ABC Family network. The musical began pre-Broadway tryouts in San Francisco in January 2007 before moving to the Palace Theatre for Broadway Previews in April 2007. The production eventually closed in October 2008 after 30 previews and 595 performances.

As on Broadway, Tony® Award-winner Jerry Mitchell is the director and choreographer. Music and lyrics are by both Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and the book is by Heather Hach. The production features scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller, orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke and sound design by ACME Sound Partners. LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL is produced on tour by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals and Dori Berinstein, in association with MGM Onstage, Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber.

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Tickets to LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center are $20 – $80 and are available online, in-person at the Center’s Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Sales office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, September 19 will be sign-language interpreted.

Bank of America is the Title Sponsor of the Center's Broadway Series. Cox Communications is the Media Partner of the Broadway Series and Mercedes-Benz USA is the Premier Sponsor of the Orange County Performing Arts Center's 2008-2009 Season.

Visit www.ocpac.org for more information. For more information on the national tour, visit www.LegallyBlondeTheMusical.com.

Photo: Becky Gulsvig as Elle Woods and Frankie as Bruiser in the National Tour of Legally Blonde the Musical.
Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

 

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