Legally Blond

The open set looked fabulous with a huge pink Sororitie house in pink which moved away panel by panel at the end of the opening number ”Omigod You Guys” with the Delta Nu’s singing  through the windows. A great opening number setting the stage for the energy to come.

Thereafter the backdrop LED screen denoted each scene change (of which there were many) and this was absolutely stunning. The aprons denoted Paulette’s Beauty salon and Elle’s room at Harvard both of which looked great and worked well.  The props were fabulous and the costumes were stunning and in keeping with each character. The sound and lighting contributed positively to the great staging of this show although some of the movement of props/set was in full light by the stage crew due in the main to the LED screen which detracted a little from the action.

The direction by Jo Weetman was slick with no hold ups and the cast had been well selected by playing to cast member’s strengths. The choreography by Katie Fry was fabulous with lots of energy and well chosen dancers but even on the whole chorus numbers the moves looked very effective. The Orchestra sounded great under David Abendstern’s baton and the work in rehearsals showed with great vocals and harmonies in all the numbers. A fabulous production team.

Elle Woods was brilliantly played by Sarah Howarth. She not only looked the part but sounded fabulous too. Steven Cheeseman made a fantastic Warner the boyfriend who dumps her for someone more serious with his cracking good looks, great vocals and acting the bad boy.

Nick Angus was wonderful as Emmett, full of character, warmth and stunning on his numbers. Professor Callahan was well played by John Weetman with great diction on his number “Blood in the Water “ which needs to be heard.

Lydia Gillibrand was fantastic as Brooke and the vocals on her solo number “Whipped Into Shape” were stunning bearing in mind the skipping/exercise she was undertaking at the time. I loved the roles played by Helen Ireland as Enid Hoops and Alison Knowles as Vivienne Kensington. Helen got the laughs for her geeky lesbian while Alison got the gasps for being wonderfully bitchy but coming good in the end.

Sean Howarth was great showing his brawn as Kyle and worked well opposite Shelley Byrne who was stunning as Paulette who had great comic timing and amazing vocals especially on “Ireland” which was a highlight for me.

Every one of the supporting roles and ensemble parts were all filled really well and a special mention to Martin White and Jason Jarvis for their roles as Carlos/Dewey and Nicos respectively whose overacting in “Gay or European” brought the house down.

There were even two gorgeous little dogs playing Bruiser and Rufus who behaved impeccably throughout their scenes.

The whole show was a joy from start to finish with great musical numbers, stunning dances and a very funny script delivered brilliantly by a very talented cast. Well done to cast, crew and production team on what was clearly a fun show which radiated from the stage.

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