Legally Blonde The Musical

The musical is based on the novel ‘Legally Blonde’ and the 2001 film of the same name. It tells the story of Elle Woods, a perky Delta Nu Sorority President (who is rarely seen without her beloved Chihuahua dog and is always dressed in pink), who enrols at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend who wanted someone ‘more serious’. The pivotal, demanding role of Elle was superbly played by Jess Hutton. She displayed all the necessary acting qualities needed for the role with great confidence and accomplishment and together with her excellent singing and dancing skills gave a truly outstanding performance. Three other strong supporting female roles were played by Sarah Stone as Pauline Buonaforte, a love-lorn Hair Salon owner, Jen Lewis as Brooke Wyndham, a fitness instructor charged with murder and Georgie Bond as Vivienne Kensington, a stuck up, wealthy and smart law student. Sarah was ideally suited for playing the quirky hairdresser, her comedic skills were very much in evidence and her delivery of ‘Ireland’ was superb and her somewhat seductive scenes with the UPS delivery man, hilariously played by Mark Jennison (loved the Macho walk) were divine. ‘Whipped into Shape’ was powerfully sung by Jen and she certainly was every inch the fitness instructor as demonstrated in the extremely strenuous skipping rope dance routine, which was meticulously performed not only by herself  but by her ‘class’ and Georgie was poised, confident and self assured as Vivienne, Warner’s new girlfriend. Tom Stanley excelled as Emmett Forrest, who takes Elle under his wing, as did Andrew Buxton as the charming and opinionated Warner Huntington and Chris Grantham was perfect as the pompous, calculating and charismatic Professor Callahan. The main Delta Nu sorority sisters / Greek Chorus Members who kept popping up at every conceivable moment in so many different outfits, were delightfully played by Stacey Hyndman - Margot, Sharon Stringer - Serena, and Kat Adey - Pilar and were ably assisted by Kate Varney, Ava-Grace Fisher and Remi Hines. Lucy Taylor was great as law student Enid Hoopes and her fellow students Reuben Dykes, Padamadan and Andrew Smyth, Aaron Schult gave good support. Many of the various other roles were doubled up and splendidly portrayed by David Orange, Paula Winning, Ian Jennison, Nicola Slack, Stephen Langton Alison Walker, Jan Outram, Sharon Green and Gill Hutton. It is a very ‘bitty’ show and the sets, all made in-house, for the numerous ‘scenes’ were expertly handled by a very efficient and hard-working Stage Crew. The off stage Orchestra was terrific as were the lovely costumes. The choreography throughout was first-rate, energetically and enthusiastically delivered by all. This was a production full of fun and laughter with great singing and dancing from everyone in the cast making for a wonderful and enjoyable evening’s entertainment. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention the two canine stars of the show – the cute Otis as Bruiser and Harley as Rufus.  

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