Legally Blonde

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL is a feelgood romantic musical comedy with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, with book by Heather Hach and based on the novel by Amanda Brown and The Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Motion Picture.   Beautiful Elle Woods, a fashion major from California, attempts to win back her boyfriend (Warner) who has decided to move on, by following him to Harvard. We hope for a happy ending but first there’s a few bumps along the way.  With fabulous songs, vibrant energy and fantastic dance routines, there was much to enjoy.

 The stage was multi-level with three doors and some entrances and exits were through the auditorium.    Scene changes were denoted by furniture. The props were well sourced and used; briefcases, picnic basket, dog leads, skipping ropes and the delivery man’s boxes.   A court room was neatly erected as was part of a trailer/house.   And the salon was well equipped including a standing hairdryer.

The costumes were amazing; lots of pink including bag and shoes.   There were business suits, graduation gowns and mortarboards, cheer-leaders dresses as well as Elle’s bunny girl outfit.    All the characters were dressed in accordance with their characters so there was a vast range of occupations covered including the DPS courier, teachers, work out sweat pants as well as more casual clothes for the students.

The lighting was effective throughout and well controlled and I loved the changing colours for the various themes such as using green for ‘Ireland’.  The vocal talents of the cast under the direction of Simon Eastwood were in tune and kept good time.   However, occasionally some clarity was lost due to the high-pitched American accents.  

The outstanding artistic aptitude of the cast and backstage and technical support resounded throughout this excellent production.  Under the direction of Harriet Brannam, the level of talent from the entire cast was genuinely impressive.     Highlights for me: the fizzing energy of Mila Chalmers as Elle, the powerful vocals and enormous stage presence of Emelia Lonnon as Paulette, the skipping in ‘Whipped into shape’ and of course the memorable appearance of the exceptionally well-behaved dogs: Rocco as Rufus and Max as Bruiser.  This was another polished production from Limelight Basingstoke that was both joyous and entertaining.

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