For my final performance in Basics of Singing, I will be performing the song “Ireland” from Legally Blonde the Musical. This musical opened on February 2, 2007 at the Palace Theater in New York. Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin brought Amanda Brown's novel and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film to new song-and-dance life. “Ireland” is a play that presents a different side of a character, Paulette, that is neither seen nor noted in the film or book. This different side of Paulette is why I chose the song. “Ireland” appears about halfway through the play, towards the end of the first act. Until then, Elle Woods, a fashion merchandising student and president of the Delta-Nu sorority at UCLA, faces a huge shock. Her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, whom she plans to propose to her, tells her that he wants to break up with her because she is "not serious enough". She, outraged, decides that love knows no bounds and must follow Warner into his graduate program at Harvard Law School. She wastes the rest of her senior year party-style in the second semester studying to pass the L-SATs and also getting accepted into Harvard. 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's this boring, old-fashioned brunette that Warner wants, then she must change her appearance, just to win him back. (“…The film or the book…”) She goes to a salon not far from the school, where Paulette, a hairdresser, convinces her that going brunette is not the way to go. Paulette sings "Ireland" to Elle to convince her that she is beautiful just the way she is and that she doesn't need to change...... middle of paper ...... in front of everyone before playing it at Cabaret the second. Works Cited « American Theater Wing - Biography - Laurence O'Keefe. » American Theater Wing - Biography - Laurence O'Keefe. American Theater Wing, 2014. Web. April 2014. “Legally Blonde – Which is better: the movie or the Book?” Critical. Web log article. Cinebrary, Wordpress, October 23, 2012. Web, April 2014. “Legally Blonde the Musical.” Legally Blonde Tour. Np, 2012. Web. April 2014. “The Dynamic Duo: Nell Benjamin and Larry O'Keefe. Berklee Blogs. Berklee College of Music, May 16, 2013. Web. Apr. 2014. .