Legally Blonde - Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

I mean Patti LuPone could be cast as the lead in Spider-Man into the dark and I would still see it.

But doesn’t seem particularly relevant here, she’s required to be pretty, blonde and vain, all boxes easily ticked

You'd see it! Sure! But the story and character wouldn't work unless it was changed, which I hope happens here.

I assume any changes would have to be run past the writers/license holders. But at what point do changes mean the show is a different one?

This has absolutely made my night haha

I meant what changes would be needed to role of Elle with Courtney cast but understand the confusion in my question.

Love the genuine thought going into the casting of Patti as Spider-Man though, really made me laugh, thank you!

I mean, a wonderful vehicle that celebrates the talents of an actress who is a Person of Colour and not a typical traditional ingenue is great! But... Legally Blonde is not it.

I for one am extremely excited about this. I think every part is pretty well cast, my main objection is actually the fact that I think Callahan might be a tiny bit too young, but other than that I do not see anyone cast that can't portray what is required of the part. Elle is supposed to be seen as a blonde airhead, I personally can't remember anything in the book or songs referencing her figure, just her hair, fashion obsession and (perceived) lack of brain. All can be very easily portrayed by Courtney.

And I have my own biases of what is perceived as 'beautiful' as when a friend told me a few weeks ago that they cast Courtney from Six as Elle, I was confused for a second, as Courtney Stapleton is currently Belle in BatB and I didn't see her leaving that cushy job for a two months run at the Open Air. So my brain automatically went for the slimmer of the two Courtneys as well. But as soon as I realised they were talking about Courtney Bowman I have become really excited about this casting as I think Courtney Bowman is an incredible comedic actress, she has the vocal chops required and damn it, plus size girls are hot, however much society tells us to be hot (or get "attractive female love interest" lead roles) we need to be skinny. So I personally have no worries that her presence as Elle will require any changing of the script or would effectively change the story.

If we cast back our minds to when Sheridan Smith was announced as Elle, there were plenty of people worrying both about her vocals and about her not having the traditional 'West Coast Sorority Girl' look (me being one of them) and she proved us all wrong at that first preview in that it's all about the essence of Elle and not about looking like a clone of Reese Witherspoon.

Anyway, that is my two cents worth. :-)

I was excited by her casting until I watched this. Perhaps it’s just the poor quality of the recording. Hope she doesn’t include the unnecessary riffing - complete turn off.

I watched the video. It wasn't very good. But these things never are. I imagine she'll be very polished by curtain up after work with an MD and proper rehearsals.

Not impressed by that video, I haven't heard her sing before so I'm assuming she normally does better. But I heard cracking, wobbling and quite a few places where she seemed out of breath. It also all seemed to be on a single level, if that makes any sense. Obviously a one-nighter that's basically for fun is different to a well rehearsed performance, I assume she can fix these things, but I'm not even close to sold.

We all know these concerts are notoriously under-rehearsed. There’s plenty of other videos out there that show off her amazing talent but as always I’ll reserve judgement until I see the actual production and not jump to conclusions - just hope she’s not given free reign to do as she wishes and go too off the beaten track with it. It’s a difficult song to get right and I’ve even heard the best Elle’s go flat in parts of it. She’s certainly got the comedy chops for it.

I mean I would usually agree, but I do think she did well considering the concert looks really casual and it’s outdoors. It was probably thrown together really quickly and I’d be surprised if she even got to rehearse it with the pianist more than once before going on. She might have even been asked to participate quite last minute we just don’t know. Either way, the concert seems clearly like it’s supposed to be fun and not a fully polished west end presentation.

And also I don’t even think she sang it that bad!! Definitely better than Bailey Hanks lol!!