Bend and Snap: the Musical

Bend and Snap: the Musical

Yes, kids, it's true. That quintessential art-form of Hollywood's yesteryear, the MGM musical, is back, but this time, it's taking place on stage, not screen. Legally Blonde is being made into a musical. To paraphrase Reese Witherspoon's character, Elle, it'll be just like the movie, only funner. Interestingly, the movie was originally supposed to contain a musical sequence, taking place during the famous 'bend and snap' scene. No doubt this sequence will be accorded full chorusgirl glamour in the stage production.

Musicals based on movies have a dubious history. Remember the musical adaptation of Big? I thought not. What about Singin' in the Rain, complete with glorious indoor rain flooding the stage during the titular song sequence? And then there's the infamous 80's horror-show, Carrie, based on Stephen King's novel and also the Cissy Spacek movie, in which a repressed adolescent schoolgirl unleashes her telekinetic powers against her bullies. Readers and viewers will remember the moment when schoolboys play a cruel prank on Carrie, dumping loads of dead pig's blood on her. In the musical, which has not been produced since its illfated Broadway premiere, the boys' pigshooting becomes the subject of a ballet.