Legally Blonde

Report

Author: Patricia Connor

This production of “Legally Blonde” from “Maghull Musical Theatre Company” directed by Betty Hall was fast paced, full of life and energy with excellent choreography and good singing and acting, meaning the audience were swept along with the story of Elle Woods a popular UCLA sorority girl from Malibu California played by Alexandra Ashall, who gave a strong spirited performance in this important central role.  Elle, usually gets everything she wants, but suddenly unexpectedly her world falls apart as she is let down by her shallow boyfriend Warner, Lee Ashall who produced a good believable character playing his part well. Warner was the man of her dreams whom she expected to marry, but he tells her she is too blonde and will not make a sensible wife for a promising Lawyer, so he leaves to enroll at Harvard Law School. Elle follows him and enrols at the same college, hoping to change his mind and win him back, however things do not go as expected and Elle’s life takes a different direction than she planned.  There were some great performances in this production which included Peter Brennan as Emmett, Elle's love interest, who complimented Alexandra very well by producing a lovely natural performance as the supportive Law Teaching Assistant and Chloe Davies had good comic timing giving a commendable very funny performance as beautician Paulette, Elle’s friend and confident. Eric Fletcher gave a fitting interpretation as the challenging manipulative Professor Callahan, head of The Harvard Law School and Sarah McNally was just right as Warner’s serious-minded new girlfriend and fellow Harvard student Vivienne. There were also other important members of the cast who gave excellent performances they included Nicole Hesketh as Elle’s Harvard colleague and women’s lib supporter Enid and Elle’s UCLA sorority friends Sarah Fletcher (Serena), Kate McHenry (Margot), Phoebe Hill (Pilar), Hannah Gomersall(Kate), with Suzanne Morris as Brooke the fitness queen who Elle successfully defends in a murder trial. Lastly but definitely not least there was Les Longley who gave a good comedic performance as Kyle, Paulette’s new Postman boyfriend. Two other characters who deserve a mention were the wonderful canine actors Kai as Bruiser and Charlton as Rufus who both stole the show as soon as they came on stage. The principal cast were very well supported by the actors in the smaller roles and the ensemble who performed admirably with energy and enthusiasm producing some wonderful characters of their own, all the cast working hard as a team with no weak links. Generally, diction and American accents were good but occasionally it was a little difficult to hear some dialogue
 
Choreography is very important to the success of this show and Sarah Fletcher met the challenge admirably, the choreography was energetic, innovative, dynamic and worked very well, suiting the production just right and was performed very well by the cast with lots of enthusiasm. The orchestra led by Musical Director Andrew Standeven played and supported the cast well, who all sang and performed the musical numbers excellently. however, on a few occasions the orchestra was a little loud

The set suited the venue and this type of fast paced show, scene changes were mostly smooth and quick and along with good sound and lighting meant the show ran well at a good pace, well done to the stage manager and the crew. Costumes as well as hair and makeup were spot-on and added to the atmosphere and enhanced the production.
Congratulations to Betty Hall for an excellent enjoyable show and to all involved in bringing this production to the stage, thank you for inviting us.