Dylan Mulvaney’s West End debut is nearly upon us. But while that’s a huge accomplishment, her not-so-secret dream role has always been to star in an all-trans adaptation of Legally Blonde: The Musical. After a recent interview, the TikTok star is on the verge of making that dream a reality.
Last spring, Mulvaney first shared her Broadway ambition in an interview with IMDb. “My dream though, dream, dream, is to do a trans Legally Blonde,” Mulvaney said. “I wanna play Elle Woods and have maybe a trans Emmette and a trans Paulette.”
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Given that the film was already about overcoming stereotypes and blossoming into your true self, an all-trans Legally Blonde makes perfect sense. “I think what’s so cool about plugging trans people into existing stories is it inherently changes what the topic is, but in a way that you don’t actually have to do much to the script because it becomes something different but actually, I think it makes it even more powerful,” Mulvaney went on.
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Earlier this year, she doubled down that dream in a conversation with MTV.
“My dream role is Elle Woods in Legally Blonde the musical. I would love it,” she said. “I just think we need to see trans people take on these iconic characters because it shows that it doesn’t take all that much effort and it actually makes the story even richer and bolder and more interesting.”
Mulvaney has long been making strides in her theatrical career, and it looks like that effort is finally paying off. In 2019, she got her breakthrough role starring as Elder White in the touring cast of Book of Mormon. Later this month, she’s making her West End debut in the new musical We Aren’t Kids Anymore.
Ahead of that performance, Mulvaney put out a call for help to secure the rights for Legally Blonde in a TikTok interview with PinkNews.
“It is so hard to get rights for a musical,” she said. “If anybody knows the people that have the rights to Legally Blonde: The Musical, please let us do it. I think it could be really good. Imagine Paulette as a trans elder? So good.”
The comments immediately had Mulvaney’s back. While most urged her to get in contact with the theatrical licensing group Music Theatre International, one commentor had direct contact with Nell Benjamin, who created the show’s music and lyrics along with her husband Laurence O’Keefe.
Artist Ryan Bauer-Walsh got in the comments to say, “I worked with Nell Benjamin. I could just call her…” Bauer-Walsh soon updated the thread, adding, “Just messaged Nell.”
“THANK YOU!!!” Mulvaney responded.
Queer solidarity in action, folks. It sounds like Mulvaney’s vision of a Legally Blonde: The Musical trans remake could be right around the corner.
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