LEGALLY BLONDE

In the starring role was Emma Jane Fearnley (Elle).  Emma was born to play this part – and she certainly did the part justice.  She must have been exhausted by the end as she rarely leaves the stage (and when she does its usually for a mega quick costume change) and yet she managed to capture the character superbly, full of energy from start to finish with still enough breath to sing over a dozen songs throughout the show – all of which sounded absolutely amazing.  Her diction at all times was crystal clear – something which is often lost in shows that require “American” accents.

Rob Durkin played the heart warming nice guy ‘Emmett Forrest’ – there were some lovely tender “chemistry” moments between Elle and Emmett.

George Scaife was a very “smooth” ‘Professor Callahan’ who was the villain of the show. I really felt the pain in his cheek from the “slap” from Elle.  Ouch!

I thought that beautician ‘Paulette’ played by Laura Mills Whittaker and Ross Knowles as the UPS delivery man “Kyle” provided lovely comedy cameo’s in the show -  and in fact nearly stole the show in the musical number “Ireland”.

Veronica La Via as ‘Brooke Wyndam’ the fitness instructor was well cast and with the dancers gave a slick routine with skipping ropes that was clever and well choreographed.  She was equally matched by Otti Cauvain (Vivienne) and Tim Sanderson (Warner) both of whom gave praiseworthy characterisations.  Otti has an amazing singing voice, which definitely showed off her talents in her musical numbers.

There were many smaller parts but all essential to the story line and all worked well as a team. I did like the Delta Nu young ladies – Becky Stewart, Ruby Hendry and Emily Brook.

The rest of the company provided great support to the main cast and must have been drilled to within an inch of their lives by the demanding director/choreographer Paul Nowland.  The choreography was lively and vivacious – and the whole audience were behind the complete cast in “Ireland” – it was brilliant.

This production was full of enthusiastic performers, with a good (but very large) “pink” set which was manoeuvred effectively around the stage by the cast members themselves.

This was a great show, with impressive choreography and an energy and enthusiasm that drew everyone into the action, including Rufus and Bruiser.  The costumes were good and hairstyles appropriate for the era.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this production

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