Legally Bound

There’s a crucial aspect of this story that you’re going to tease me about. I’m a guy who has lived through this sort of thing his whole life, so it doesn’t phase me at this point. But if I just cavalierly drop this fact mid story, it’ll take you out of it. So, rather disrupt the flow of this post, I’ll say it right now: I saw the musical production of Legally Blonde last night, and I thought it was adorable.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Done? Good.

So as I was saying…

The theater was filled with swarming masses of pre-teen girls and their denial ridden, middle aged  mothers. All of them were amply equipped with pink outfits, novelty purses containing fake dogs, and, of course, rhinestone encrusted cell phones. Photo op? You bet your capris! Alas, the Pantages staff was adamant about snuffing out any photography, still or motion, regardless of capturing device.

Voice over boomed through the loudspeakers, reiterating what had been apparently enforced the entire evening: no photography was allowed, and Elle Woods, attorney supreme, would “so go after you” if anything “ends up online”.

Looking around the theater, the average age must have hovered somewhere in the late teens. Surely, these were people who expressed their fandom via new media. This is a generation that express themselves through sharing media online. Yeah, I can read that Legally Blond is Dakota’s favorite musical on her facebook, but it would be more powerful to see the youtube embed on her wall. As if somehow kids sharing their favorite musical numbers online could serve as a substitute for the stage show. “Well, I’ve seen a five minute excerpt on youtube, and now that my friends and I have the song memorized,  there’s no need to see the giant theatrical spectacular live”. Give me a break. This is just goes to show, the old media is just getting older. Put another way, if you keep kids from sharing your product online you stop them from marketing your show for you. We all know what word of mouth is, but apparently, we don’t all know how it’s spread.

Did I forget to mention who effective their efforts were? Well, exactly as effective as you’d guess.