Legally Blonde

For those unfamiliar with the story of Legally Blonde, it centres around Elle Woods, who has it all. She wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But there is one thing stopping him from proposing: She is too blonde. Elle rallies all of her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back.

If this show is to succeed, it needs an excellent leading lady, and wow, did Ossett Youth Theatre Seniors find theirs in Emmi Huffinley who totally embodied Elle Wood. Throughout the whole show she remained in character and captivated the audience with her beautiful singing voice, flawless accent and convincing acting that belied her young age and wouldn’t look out of place on a larger stage.

As the heartbreaker Warner Huntingdon III, Oliver Hornsby gave an assured performance and was able to show the condescending, arrogant and self assured side of Warner which helped the audience empathise even more with Elle.

On arrival at Harvard, Elle meets Emmett, a lawyer and teaching assitant who is perceptive, notices the best in people, especially the underdogs and helps Elle to believe in herself. Emmett was ably portrayed by Ben Maltas who demonstrated his versatility and range of acting and vocal skills and delivered a relaxed likeable character. Together, Ben and Emmi made a very believable on stage couple.

Taking the role of Callahan was Elliot Cosgrove in his third production with OYT. Callahan is a notoriously hard, intellectual and charismatic Harvard lecturer who has a dark side and uses his power to exploit people. Elliot really shone in this role and his song Blood In The Water was one of the highlights for me. He has a pure tone and delivered it just like a lawyer cross examining a witnesss in a trial. An excellent performance from a promising performer.

During her tribulations at Harvard, Elle meets salon owner Paulette and they quickly become firm friends. Paulette has suffered her own heartbreak and her song Ireland tells her tragic tale. Georgia Hitchcock did a great job in bringing the spunky personality of Paulette to life.

Kate Gleghorn as Vivienne Kensington, the new ‘serious’ girlfriend of Warner, brilliantly captured the towards Elle whilst Nevaeh McGinty as ‘Brooke Wyndham’ the fitness instructor was well cast and performed “Whipped Into Shape” whilst skipping in a routine that was clever and well choreographed with lots of energy.  I think the audience were exhausted just watching it being performed.

There are lots of other supporting roles in this show and, without exception, every performer looked like they were having the time of their lives. Not once did anyone drop any characterisation throughout the whole performance and everyone gave 100% plus to this production. However, I must give a special mention to Ollie Blakely who had several cameo roles throughout this production. He has a singing voice that sounds like it should be coming from a much older person, not a teenager. His confidence, stage presence, energy and characterisation in every part showed that he is a star of the future. As Nikos, along with Alex Nunes as Carlos their courtroom scene was hilarious.  Their delivery and comic timing in this number was outstanding.  The audience were thoroughly entertained.

The pace of this show never sagged from the moment it opened to the second it closed.  Congratulations to Sue and Jessica Winstanley on your stunning production and choreography respectively.  You certainly had both ‘whipped the cast into shape’ and were able to bring out lots of little nuances in the script. Musically, it was great to see a nine piece band, led by Conductor, James Greatorex. James expertly controlled the band and ensured that they never overpowered the cast so all vocals could be heard.

A huge congratulations to all involved in such a “Positive” production.

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