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Press Index
From the Palace to the Cutting Room
by Ellis Nassour
Legally Blondes Elle Woods, Tony and
DD-nominated star Laura Bell Bundy will drastically
change personas Tuesday night, October 2, one of her
nights off from Broadway, and take a break from her
Harvard challenges to channel her country side in
anything but pink as Laura Bell at Chris Noth and
Steve Walkers Cutting Room [19 West 24th Street,
between Broadway and Sixth Avenue]. Showtime is 8
P.M. She'll be appearing with her band.
Dynamo Bundy, who originated Amber Von Tussle in
Hairspray and portrayed the good Glinda in
Wicked, was greatly influenced by Patsy Cline,
Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and, among others, Aretha
Franklin growing up in her native Kentucky.
Her Cutting Room appearance will showcase her
songwriting talents and tunes from her new CD,
Longing for a Place Already Gone [LAB Records;
SRP $15], which features 17 tracks, from uptempo to
waltzy ballads, written by Bundy and Larson Paine.
Laura Bell, wanting to use a name that would
distinguish her from the actress/singer playing
Elle, says, "My music is a throw back to the
sixties, what I've coined 'y'alternative,' a sort of
indie country or Top 40 meet country. The songs have
the quality of a song Patsy Cline would have
recorded or that Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash would
have written." If Bell's vocals bear a resemblance
to Cline, "it's because I've tried to capture the
essence of her vocal styling."
 The CD, which contains a colorful booklet of
lyrics and some decidedly non-Legally Blonde
photos [button a couple of those buttons, Laura!] is
available at Amazon.com, where you can catch vocal
samples, and
http://www.labrecordsmusic.com/ At
itunes.com, you can purchase downloads of the tunes.
Bell, who describes her current life as "work heavy
but one where I'm having a wonderful time," decided
to do her album on her own label "because I felt it
would be hard for an industry label to understand
what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. It's
a little new and different. In order for me to do it
quickly, capture the traditional sound and maintain
control, I just needed to do it myself." She
recorded the CD on the West Coast, using top fiddle,
dobro, mandolin and peddle steel players, just prior
to going into Legally Blonde.
 Keep in mind that you are now dealing with two
personalities:
Laura Bell and Laura Bell Bundy. If you wish to get an early start on holiday shopping, visit the LAB Records site to purchase
of Laura Bell Bundy's I'll Be Home For
Christmas, with proceeds benefiting her
charity, Kreative Kids Foundation.
Bundy, Christian Borle, Orfeh, Michael Rupert
and the Legally Blonde company can be
heard singing Laurence O'Keefe and Nell
Benjamin's show tunes on Ghostlight Records. The
just-taped performance of the musical will be
broadcast in mid-October on MTV.
For much more on the many facets of Bundy [and
to purchase a purse or two], visit
http://www.lauraashleybellbundy.com/
and
http://www.laurabellbundy.com/.
Tickets for Laura Bell in concert at Cutting
Room are $15 and available at SmartTix.com.
Theres an additional $10 food or drink minimum. Press Index
Source:
broadwaystars.com
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