Legally Blonde

Zodiac Theatre Company performed their 2018 musical ‘Legally Blonde’ at the Brindley Theatre and I had the pleasure of watching it this week.  The musical version follows the same story as the 2001 film starring Recce Witherspoon.  The main character is Elle Woods - A one-dimensional ‘airhead’ who decides to follow her heart-throb boyfriend to Harvard Law School to win back his heart.  Whilst at Harvard, Elle learns about love and life - the hard way, and becomes the full three-dimensional character that she never thought she could be.

Legally Blonde was directed by Valarie Ball.  I appreciate that there are a lot of different locations in this show and felt that Valarie made some clever choices in her direction to ensure that scene changes were efficient and had little impact on the pace.  There were a few times when I felt a full change might have given the plot more gravitas but overall, I was pleased with the style, tone and direction.

Craig Price took the helm as Musical Director; in charge of an eleven-piece orchestra.  I thought the band sounded great and there was a great blend of all the instruments.  I would have loved to have seen the band either on-stage or in the pit, as they were missed!

Legally Blonde is a show that has fantastic dance numbers and the choreography from Jessica Martin showed off every dancer to great aplomb.  The choreography was apt in style and energy and I found it very difficult to sit still in my seat throughout this show!  It was clear that the dancers were 100% confident in the choreography and each performed their routines with outstanding energy and passion!  A particular favourite routine was ‘Whipped into Shape’.

The sound for this show was, on the whole, very good.  I liked the blend between the band and the auditorium but felt that the blend between the female chorus could’ve been better.  At times, because the score requires the girls to be ‘screechy’, the sound team could’ve taken this into consideration by reducing the projection on these occasions.  Some of the diction was lost because of this too.

For me, there were various issues with lighting direction.  The director had scene changes on stage which meant that whilst the action at the front of the stage was going on, there were stage crew and some cast changing the scene behind.  I felt that the lighting behind the action could’ve been darker and the pools of light at the front of the stage could’ve been a lot bigger.  There were far too many times when the Delta Nu’s were in dark light.

Costumes were appropriate and reflected each individual character.  They added to the overall production and I liked how the colours of the costumes were reflected in the set.  A special mention has to go to the excellent on-stage costume change in the opening number!  Well done!

The set was very minimalistic.  This wasn’t really an issue due to the vast number of location changes.  The minimal set that was used, was used to good effect and the location of each scene was established through the minimal set.  I personally would have preferred a larger scale set, but this is just my own opinion.

The protagonist of this piece was Ciera Evans who played Elle Woods.  Ciera is barely offstage and did very well to engage the audience in every scene.  She told the story very well both vocally and physically.  I loved the use of gestures and the way that Ciera held herself onstage and I totally believed her character.  Ciera has a fantastic voice for this role and sang effortlessly!  It was a delight to watch her – well done Ciera!

Elle’s love interest: Warner Huntington 3rd was played by Blair Smith.   Blair did well to play the heart-throb and found a suitable blend with the humour and tone.  He had nice vocals and a good rapport with Elle.  I liked the hair flicks that he added to his character. 

Elle’s ‘other’ love interest was played by Chris Doyle.  Chris looked the part and did well to hold his own.  I was impressed with Chris’ vocals, particularly in his upper range.  His duets during ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Chip on my Shoulder’ were great. 

Jennifer Deakin played the role of Paulette.  For me, Paulette is one of the best parts in this show and Jennifer did well vocally and comedically to carry this part.  The song ‘Ireland’ was a treat and Jennifer was able to show off her brilliant belt/vocal range!

The main cast were supported by Neil Silcock (Professor Callaghan) – who had a great gravitas to his voice, Phil Murray (Kyle – The Delivery Guy) – who had the best wiggle on a stage of over 25 women, and Mary Carpenter (Vivienne Kensington) - who looked the part and did well to portray the snooty and judgemental side of her character.  Further support was made from Lydia Draycott (Brooke Wyndham) who looked brilliant as the fitness queen!  Brooke sang and danced her way through her number ‘Whipped into Shape’ with ease.

I have to mention the brilliant Delta Nu girls – supported by Natalie Hayes (Serena), Beth Cox (Margot), Laura Johnson (Pilar) and Amelia Douggie (Kate) who had excellent vocals.  The Delta Nu’s had outstanding energy and commitment to every singe scene.  It was clear that they loved performing the choreography and singing these songs.  I did lose some diction from time to time, but I felt that this was down to the blend between the microphones – not the actors themselves.  The rest of the cast were good and used well in this production. 

Overall, I was impressed by this production.  I loved the energy and style and it was hard not to stand up to dance and sing along.  There was a suitable applause for the two adorable dogs that were used in this production.  They say that you should never work with animals – I disagree!  These lovely dogs were great and used effectively throughout.  The songs in Legally Blonde are very catchy and I left the theatre singing them all the way home!  Although, my bend and snap still needs a lot of work!

Well done Zodiac.  I look forward to seeing your 2019 musical – Spamalot! 

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