Talk:Legally Blonde (musical)

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	Musical Theatre Portal Legally Blonde (musical) is part of WikiProject Musical Theatre, organized to improve and complete musical theatre articles and coverage on Wikipedia. You can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
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WikiProject Musical Theatre tasks: Help out with one of the WikiProject Musical Theatre tasks below. You may add your name to the Participants list to the right. edit this Open Tasks template Collaborate and work on the Collaboration of the Month Articles needing a content fork Mainly, these are articles on films and either their source or subsequent musicals. There are a couple where the musical needs to be "forked" from the source material. Feel free to add or remove as necessary. Important: If you split an article, please make sure that you move all the relevant links from the first article to the new one. To find which links to move, click on "What links here" at the old article and look through the list to see which links should be pointed to the film related link (for example, articles on actors in the film). Then, click on those links and update them to point to the film article. Thanks! Don't Play Us Cheap Roberta How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying I Married an Angel Lady in the Dark The Band Wagon - musical adaptation will to be forked after it opens in April.

Contents 1 Edits 2 Important information in the article 3 Love and War 4 Character table 5 Annaleigh Ashford 6 Original Broadway Cast Recording credits changed 7 The Next Elle Woods 8 Role of Margot 9 Cast section

[edit] Edits

This read as if it had been written by well-meaning enthusiastic fans of the film who never had read a theatre-based Wikipedia article. The facts were presented in an incohesive jumble, and the article was littered with inconsequential details (ensemble players, understudies, dance captains - this is an encyclopedia article, not a Playbill), unnecessary trivia, and POV, all of which I have removed. In addition to restructuring the article, I have added a brief synopsis (previously it had none at all), a list of the Drama Desk Award nominations, and a photo to the infobox. Thank you. SFTVLGUY2 17:55, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Important information in the article

• • The MTV airdate was changed to October 14th, time is TBD. The show will not air on September 29th. ** —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xanadubroadway (talk • contribs) 20:51, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Do you have a source to support this? I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I just haven't heard this, and the source cited in the article says otherwise. —Mears man 22:20, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

A Press release will go out Monday.

[edit] Love and War

"'Love and War', the deleted song from the San Francisco run, will not be on the CD."

Thank god this vital issue has been cleared up!  ;-) Can we delete this trivia please? -- Ssilvers 15:13, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

There's no mention of this song at all in the article. I'm unfamiliar with the source material, so it's a little frustrating because I came here to find information on this track, but there's no explanation on where it was once used, what happened to it and why. Annie D 02:09, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Is this confirmed? What is the source?

-Anonymous

[edit] Character table

Why do we have that 'original name' thing when only one name changed? Wouldn't it make more sense to simply mention that one change somewhere? (Also - Elle WOODS, Emmett FORREST - coincidence?) 72.131.11.47 02:29, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Annaleigh Ashford

I thought I'd make a note that, if I'm not mistaken, she is no longer with the musical. She was originally taking a 3 month leave of absence to star as Glinda in Wicked, while Kendra Kassebaum was away, but for some reason, Kendra was unable to return, and Annaleigh's engagement has stretched from 3 to 8 months. I'd make the edit myself, but I don't know who replaced her.

If I'm wrong about any of this, just ignore me, but last I heard, this was the case. JellyFish72 04:12, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Original Broadway Cast Recording credits changed

I changed the credits to that of the back cover of the OCR instead of people's perception of how the songs should be credited.

Apparently, on the back cover, the artists are credited by "fame". The more famous/prominent the singer, the earlier they're credited in the song credit. It could also be that they're credited by role significance... or both as Laura Bell Bundy is almost always credited first, except for in one single instance where Kate Shindle gets first credit. I'm unsure.

But this is the "correct" way of crediting them. ---FallenAngelII 14:09, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

The "correct" way of crediting them is by going by how it is in the Playbill, NOT the OBCR. Ibdb's listing would reflect what was in the Playbill. The OBCR is but one incarnation of the show; how the producers chose to credit things in the program is more correct.

Now, I don't know if there's a discrepancy between what's on the OBCR and what's on ibdb, but I have seen an INORDINATE number of changes to the listing. I'd have to say that it should reflect what's on ibdb. —  MusicMaker5376 14:55, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm don't really know anything about this Playbill/OBCR conflict, but I consider the changes FallenAngelII made to be an improvement to the article, and I think the section is fine the way it is right now. —Mears man (talk) 18:51, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Other than the credits, I agree. —  MusicMaker5376 16:26, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Are the original credits the way they appeared on the playbill, though? I kinda doubt it judging by how certain songs were credited, like "Legally Blonde Remix" where Enid was credited before Elle. "Serious" credited Warner first, probably because of chronological order of singing, but "Serious (Reprise)" credited Elle first despite Warner singing first here as well. "Omigod You Guys" credits "Shop girl" despite no such character being credited in the musical (AFAIK). The actress who portrayed her was credited as "Courtney/Mom/Whitney/Ensemble". And all of the Harvard headmaster/teachers are credited for "What You Want", though I doubt it. I don't know how the playbill credits the songs. If someone actually has it and there are discrephencies, please, by all means, edit them in. I doubt the original credits were taken straight from the playbill, though. ---FallenAngelII 16:12, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

The thing is that, across the board on Musical Theatre articles, we have to have some sort of standard. Ibdb is staffed professionally -- meaning that, unlike its cinematic predecessor, it's written and compiled by people who work for ibdb and not by any Joe Sixpack with a smelly t-shirt. Therefore, while only slightly, it's considered "scholarly". More so than your average OBCR. You have to keep in mind that the packaging on a CD is for two purposes: 1) information on what's on the CD, surely, but 2) to sell you a product. It's marketed differently than is the show itself. That's why I've reverted on several occasions the addition of the words "the musical" from the infobox -- just because it's on the OBCR doesn't make it part of the title. They have to put those words on the OBCR to distinguish that CD from the soundtrack of the film, and both ibdb and Playbill list the title as simply Legally Blonde. So, short of having a copy of the playbill (which I have no intention of ever getting...), we use the next best thing: ibdb. Ibdb can be trusted to get things correct, and, instead of editwarring over what different sources say, we can look to it as the standard source for just about everything Broadway-related. —  MusicMaker5376 16:26, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm looking at the IBDB-credits page as I write this and while I can't prove it, I still think something's fishy with it. "Serious" credits Warner, then Elle, while "Serious (Reprise)" credits Elle first, despite Warner going first both times. I doubt the crediting for the MTV broadcast was done by random people or on random, though. For one thing, the actors would find it horribly insulting were they to be wrongly credited just because someone credited on random. For another, I don't think the showrunners would allow that. Oh, well. ---FallenAngelII 21:02, 13 December 2007 (GMT+1)

Don't get me wrong, I do understand your concerns. (My response yesterday was a little short and snotty -- I was having a bad day....) I'm going to dragoon some of the editors over at WikiProject Musical Theatre to see what they think. The ramifications of this discussion will undoubtedly affect more articles than just this one, so I'm probably going to open a discussion over there. —  MusicMaker5376 22:31, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

The discussion has been opened here. —  MusicMaker5376 22:42, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Next Elle Woods

Although it hasn't been officially announced (and thus cannot be added to the article yet), there's news that the next Elle may be cast through a reality show. Article here: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/114246.html Annie D (talk) 22:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Looks like a reliable source to me. —  MusicMaker5376 22:43, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I want to be the next Elle. But I think being 6'4" and male will hinder my chances. I saw the show when it premiered in SF and I could barely control my gayness. But anyway, here's another source if it's ever needed. Peace. http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162008/tv/mtv_looks_for_legally_blondes_next_elle_22355.htm --AgnosticPreachersKid (talk) 22:54, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Role of Margot

On April 18, 2008, 15:51, an editor changed the name of the actress playing the role of Margot from "Haven Burton" to "Annaleigh Ashford". I changed that name back to that of "Haven Burton", who, according to IBDB, is playing the role from Sep. 26, 2007-May 11, 2008. Another editor changed my edit back to Annaleigh Ashford on April 19, 2008, 5:20. I do not like edit wars, and am also very aware of the WP:3RR rule. Therefore, I am writing this note, and also giving this reference as to Annaleigh's current activity--she is actually in Wicked, as Glinda. Reference [here]. Should other editors want to make the needed correction, or perhaps add to the discussion, much obliged. JeanColumbia (talk) 13:44, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

I've looked at the IBDB and the playbill article that you cited, and it appears to me that you're right. I'll change it back to Haven Burton. —Mears man (talk) 14:30, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cast section

Over the past week or so I've seen the cast section changed back and forth between "Original Broadway cast" and "Current Broadway cast". While I don't personally have a problem with listing the changes in the actors portraying the roles, I think that the Original Broadway cast needs to remain in the article. Add the current cast in separately if you will, but please don't remove the original cast information in the process. Well, that's my personal view at least. Feel free to comment. —MearsMan ^talk 05:11, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

In musicals articles, generally, we only list the original principal cast on B'way or the West End (or if there has been no B'way or WE run, then the most notable production's principals. We never list ensemble or swings, except to say something like "Ethel Merman began her caree in the ensemble of this show." Notable replacements should be listed, but only for notable people who have or should have Wikipedia articles of their own. Also, for subsequent productions, we list notable names in the principal cast, but not a full cast list. Everyone else can be listed on a subsidiary article like the cast list article for this show. Best regards, -- Ssilvers (talk) 13:51, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

My rule of thumb for adding content to musicals articles is: If I were an encyclopedia reader looking this up in 10 years, would this information be important? That keeps the fancruft out. -- Ssilvers (talk) 13:52, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Ssilvers, I'll try to keep that in mind in the future! It helps knowing that something is the general rule of thumb and not just how I personally think things should be done. —MearsMan ^talk 13:56, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Another way to look at it is that we are not advertising musicals, rather we are describing the most important information that has been written about them. The skill in encyclopedia writing is to select the most important (i.e. notable) information. Hope this helps. Two of our best articles are Hair (musical) and Wicked (musical). If you don't see a type of information in the "Hair" article, it is probably because we have all considered it and decided that it is not notable. The WP:MUSICALS talk page is usually the best place to get a consensus on how to proceed on a policy issue. All the best! BTW, I don't consider the London production to be real yet. See WP:CRYSTAL. You've got to start selling tickets, IMO, before a production is encyclopedic. Indeed, I would have argued that you need to open, but I know that some others on the project feel that once a theater is chosen, casting is done and tix are on sale we can describe the production. -- Ssilvers (talk) 14:08, 9 May 2008 (UTC)