Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde is one of my favourite shows so I always have high expectations. I know it extremely well and have a clear vision as to how it should be presented. Thank you Springers for meeting my expectations and for presenting this musical as I had hoped!

The success of this show largely depends on comedy, energy and a stand out leading lady. Three out of three for Springers in this vibrant production.

Sophie Holmes as Sorority girl Elle Woods, following her one true love Warner to Harvard Law School, was simply wonderful. She had complete command of the stage and had the audience in the palm of her hands throughout. Her comedic timing was excellent yet she was still able to bring a softness and vulnerability to her character when called for. Vocally Sophie was note perfect although I do have one tiny request… I would love to see her trust in her chest voice a little more. At times some of her big notes became lost when singing over the ensemble, particularly at the end of “So Much Better” which should be a real moment for Elle at the end of Act 1. But I am being picky here and otherwise it was a perfect performance. I really appreciated the attention to detail in Sophie’s characterisation very much emulating professional Actors that have played the role of Elle – Sheridan Smith and Laura Bell Bendy. Congratulations Sophie!

Sophie was well supported by her Delta Nu sisters led by Kat McKeon (Serena), Elysha Edwards (Margot) and Karla Marie (Pilar). All danced well and their friendship and support of Elle was believable.

Alfie Back as Emmett was a joy. Alfie has a really lovely quality to his singing voice. I particularly enjoyed his vocals in “Legally Blonde” in Act 2 which he performed with sincerity and emotion. The audience enjoyed his transformation in “Take It Like a Man”.

Matt Scott gave us a suitably narcissistic Warner and after a shaky start vocally soon settled in to the role. He made the perfect contrast to Alfie’s Emmett leaving the audience in no doubt as to who they are rooting for!

Comedy came in bucket loads from Rebecca Webber as hairdresser Paulette and Barry Miles as Kyle the UPS guy who gets Paulette all in a fluster! I really enjoyed their scenes together, both knew exactly how to get every ounce of comedy from their dialogue.

Another excellent performance came from Tessa Maxwell as Brooke with powerhouse vocals and huge energy. She didn’t break a sweat during the demanding routine “Whipped Into Shape”. I think the audience were more out of breath by the end of the number than she was!

Alice Clements as Elle’s nemesis Vivienne gave a strong performance and looked just right for the role. I think she possibly could have taken her initial dislike of Elle up a notch but again I am being picky. Alice has a good voice so I would love to see her in a role where she can show this off more in future.

A special mention must go to James Wilkins as Professor Callahan. This role is so much harder to get right than it seems. It requires smarm, over confidence and authority, all of which James portrayed very well. His song “Blood in The Water” has some tricky rhythms in it but James executed this with ease.

Other notable mentions must go to Emily Peplow as Enid, Dan Carlton as Padamadan and James Birchmore as Aaron. Their number “Harvard Variations” is probably the trickiest to master in terms of keeping the audience engaged and they did it beautifully.

James Birchmore also deserves credit for his part in “Gay or European” as Nikos alongside Stewart Rayment as Karlos. Both Actors were superb in this song, very nearly stealing the show. Well done!

Finally we were treated to two adorable canine performances from Tilly Rose as Bruiser and Theo as Rufus. Both dogs behaved perfectly and definitely provided the “awwww” factor!

The hired set was fabulous and I very much appreciated the changes made to it by Director Aimee Hart, particularly the addition of windows to the sorority house. Costumes were also excellent. However, I did take offence to the stage crew in white shirts being so clearly present on stage. While I understand this was to avoid lengthy black outs it did detract from the on stage action and became very distracting. Sound was also an issue with so many missed mic cues. But credit to the cast, they seemed aware of the issues and all projected during these moments so the audience could still hear for the most part.

Choreography was really strong in parts with “What You Want” being well done. However I did find it lacking in other areas. I feel a lot more could have been done with “Legally Blonde” remix. While the “Irish” section was ok the start of the number mainly consisted of the cast crossing back and forth across the stage. I understand this is a “parade” section but I still would have liked to see some choreography here and better use made of the space available. It would also have been nice to see Paulette more involved in this number during the initial Irish dancing.

My only other critique would be around the Greek Chorus in “Chip on My Shoulder”. The girls were having to rush on stage while singing and seemed out of breath before they were in place to hit their marks. I know this is a difficult number but I would have preferred to see lights up on the girls once in their poses. Emmett should not have been engaging with them either during this number as at this stage only Elle can see them…

The band were skilfully led by MD Susanna Edom and were well balanced throughout. Susanna definitely worked hard with the cast on their harmonies which I could hear clearly and the tempo for the duration was perfect extracting plenty of energy from both musicians and cast.

My guest and I had a truly wonderful evening and would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and commitment to bringing this musical to life. Congratulations to Director Aimee Hart who has clearly poured her heart and soul into this production. The standing ovation was deserved and we left singing and dancing and wanting to watch it all over again.

As always, thank you to the front of house team for your hospitality. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

 

Victoria Carey

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