Laura Bell Bundy Sets Date for Departure from Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde star Laura Bell Bundy, Broadway's original Elle Woods, will play her final performance in the musical on July 20, readying the stage for the winner of MTV's Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods reality show. The winner of the audition/talent competition will be announced in the show's finale on July 21, with the new Elle Woods taking her place center stage at the Palace Theatre beginning July 23.

Unlike You're the One That I Want, the reality casting series that allowed viewers to choose Laura Osnes and Max Crumm to play Sandy and Danny in the current Broadway revival of Grease, the new Elle Woods is being chosen by a panel of judges: casting director Bernard Telsey, Blonde book writer Heather Hach and original Blonde cast member Paul Canaan.

Legally Blonde: The Musical, based on 2001 flick starring Reese Witherspoon about sweetheart sorority girl turned Harvard Law student Elle Woods, was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2007. The show opened at the Palace on April 29, 2007.