The Hollywood writers' strike seems to be affecting Broadway in some indirect ways. Faced with a lack of scribes for its scripted shows, MTV has announced a reality show to help the producers of the Broadway musical Legally Blonde choose a successor for Laura Bell Bundy in the lead role of Elle Woods. (Reality shows employ "content producers," who are cheaper and don't belong to the writers' union.) The network recently announced national auditions in anticipation of taping the show in February and March.
It's a questionable tactic, at least from a ratings perspective. By all accounts, the reality show "Grease: You're the One That I Want" wasn't much of a Nielsen bonanza, although the Grease revival that it helped to cast seems to be holding its own at the box office. On the other hand, ticket sales for Legally Blonde got a shot in the arm from its recent airings on MTV, despite predictions from many people that running the show on TV would prove disastrous.
Many people will also likely decry this reality-show move as a publicity stunt. Well, I say, what's wrong with a publicity stunt, if it keeps a decent show running? I've long defended stunt-casting as an effective way to keep good shows up and good people employed. And Legally Blonde, while certainly not a masterpiece, is a fun bit of fluff, if a bit on the shrill side. (See my review here.) The show is an intentionally populist Broadway offering, and thus is in no danger of compromising its "artistic integrity" by relegating its central casting to a populist voting process. Plus, the show will bring increased visibility to Broadway in general beyond Broadway's typical demographic (i.e. from old, rich, white people to young, rich, white people).
Let's just hope the whole reality-show thing doesn't go too far. I mean, we certainly wouldn't want this casting-by- popular-vote thing to become a habit or anything. In a larger sense, art is not a democratic process, nor should it be.
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