The Search for Elle - Part 5

The reality show with the longest title yet continued this week as they narrow down the contestants in Legally Blonde: The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods.

In this week's episode the six actors left (of the 10 original contestants) faced three challenges - two genuine auditions and one silly soap opera moment.

The first challenge was a dance audition. They were taught a brief sequence from the musical (quaintly referred to as the "Shake Your Junk" number), then given high-heeled pink boots and made to perform the dance on a cobblestone street in New York (see the photo above, which is courtesy MTV). The idea was to simulate the treacherous dance surface in an actual show, where you have to work around cables, tracks in the floor and other obstacles. That was an interesting take on a dancing audition, and it's a part of performing in a show that most people aren't aware of.

The second challenge was the silly one. Back at their apartment, the actors were given a questionnaire to fill out - but the questions were all hurtful, like "Who's the worst singer," "Who's the worst dancer" - that kind of thing. Many tears followed, and finally they decided to turn the questions around to make them more positive and less hurtful, such as "Who's the most improved dancer / singer / etc." Since the questionnaire is never mentioned again, we don't find out if they were all penalized for breaking the rules. Again, this is the silly stuff that seems so unnecessary in a competition like this - it's just an attempt to create phony drama.

The final challenge was back to the real world, as the actors were taught a dance routinue for the next day - but they were only given 40 minutes of instruction, so they had to work together to fine-tune their performance. The good thing about the fact that there are only six competitors left is that we actually got to see each actor perform, so we (the viewers) can start deciding which one we believe has what it takes to be the next Elle.

There was plenty of real drama in the audition, as Autumn had to run from the room after her routine so she could throw up, and others had to face some harsh criticism from the judges. If nothing else, this show emphasizes the importance of being able to "do it all" at auditions - sing, dance and act - because the star has to do all three, usually all at the same time.

At the end, Emma was eliminated - and she's been sick for the last two episodes, so perhaps that had something to do with it. (Once again, the lesson is: don't smoke, kids!)

But aside from some of the silly stuff, this show is still holding my interest - and that's a lot more than I could say about Grease: You're the One That I Want.