Basics of Singing: Performing The Song Ireland from Legally Blonde The Musical

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For my final performance in Basics of Singing, I will be performing the song “Ireland” from Legally Blonde the Musical. This musical first opened February 2nd, 2007 at the Palace Theatre in New York City. Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin brought Amanda Brown’s novel and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture to a new life of song and dance. “Ireland” is a piece that presents a different side to a character, Paulette, that is not seen or noted in the film nor the book. This different side of Paulette is the reason I chose the song.
“Ireland” is present about half way through the play, towards the end of act one. Up until this point, Elle Woods, student of fashion merchandising and sorority president of Delta-Nu at UCLA, is met by a huge shock. Her boyfriend, Warner Huntington the Third, who she expects to propose to her tells her that he wants to break up with her because she is “not serious enough.” Elle, outraged, decides that love knows no bounds and must follow Warner to his post-graduate program at Harvard Law School. She ruins the rest of her party-style second semester senior year by studying to ace the L-SATs and getting accepted to Harvard as well. Upon arrival, she discovers that Warner has already proposed to a former childhood sweetheart who is also accepted into the same law program as them. Furious, Elle decides that if it is this boring, unfashionable brunette that Warner wants, then she must change her appearance, just to win him back. (“…The Movie or the Book…”) She goes to a salon not too far away from school, where Paulette, a hair dresser, convinces her that brunette is not the way to go. Paulette sings “Ireland” to Elle to convince her that she is beautiful as she is and does not need to chang...

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...ront of everyone before performing it at Cabaret on the second.

Works Cited
“American Theatre Wing - Biography - Laurence O’Keefe." American Theatre Wing - Biography - Laurence O'Keefe. American Theatre Wing, 2014. Web. Apr. 2014. .
Legally Blonde - Which Is Better: The Movie or the Book?” Review. Web log post. Cinebrary. Wordpress, 23 Oct. 2012. Web. Apr. 2014. .
“Legally Blonde the Musical.” Legally Blonde Tour. N.p., 2012. Web. Apr. 2014. .
“The Dynamic Duo: Nell Benjamin and Larry O’Keefe." Berklee Blogs. Berklee College of Music, 16 May 2013. Web. Apr. 2014. .

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