Legally Blonde

The plot of this modern musical, based on the 2001 film, sees blonde sorority queen Elle Woods dumped for not being serious enough, so she takes the opportunity to turn this around and heads off to Harvard to complete a law degree.

Watching this production takes your breath away, packed with action from the start. Terrific choreography by Rebecca Beaumont had flair and imagination. Great support from the Orchestra, led by MD Siobhan Link, whose tempo needed to be spot on to drive the show, which demands pace. You would marvel at the speed of the numerous costume changes, excellent by the way. My goodness how hard the company and backstage crew must have worked with moving the very large pieces of scenery, performed efficiently and swiftly, all enhanced of course by a good lighting plot.

Caroline Ferguson as Elle is a seasoned performer and she absolutely nailed the role of a blonde with a big heart. She looked sensational and what a lovely smile! In contrast, Elle’s two love interests, Charlie Grant as Warner and Jordan Brown as Emmett are both on stage for the first time, they can certainly be proud of their performances.

Inspired casting and wonderful to watch was Estelle Burfoot-Reed as Paulette, Elle’s best friend, she had great sense of comic timing and sense of fun, especially the scenes with Kyle the UPS guy (Richard Burfoot-Reed) the ‘River Dance’ style number was a stand out performance.

All the other named supporting parts were very bright, fun characters with belting voices. In Act 2 we see Claire Knapman as Brooke, the fitness instructor. Phew, I was definitely out of breath watching this clever, slick routine, which involved skipping ropes. Smaller parts, too numerous to mention all added to the story line and were well played.

I must not forget the smallest stars of the show, Bruiser (Gizmo) a Chihuahua, very laid back performer and Rufus (Zeus Burfoot-Reed) whose tail wagged all the time, especially when there was a treat or two in the offing.

This demanding musical is a credit to Director Paul Ferguson, which the audience absolutely loved. 

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