Legally Blonde the musical

If you’re seeing this show for the first time be prepared to be blown out of your seat from the word go as it’s loud and driven, in this case, by a high energy cast and orchestra with a good set and bright costumes.  The society’s choice for their eagerly awaited return to Hull New Theatre was a good one and it attracted a number of new, young, members wishing to be part of it, including Hull KR’s cheerleaders, The Robinettes.

The story basically revolves around Elle who follows her boyfriend, Warren, to Harvard University to study law.  Unfortunately, also at the University is a past girlfriend of Warren’s, dashing Elle’s hopes.  However, things turn out well, in spite of ups and downs, as Emmett comes into her life.

Zoe Kenington, in her first role with the society, gave a fine performance as Elle.  She was hardly off stage and showed off her singing, dancing and acting skills to great effect.  I thought Joshua Archibald was nicely cast as Emmett and, giving a very promising performance, he gained the appreciation of the audience as he sensitively showed his feelings for Elle.  I particularly enjoyed their ‘Legally Blonde’ duet.

Aidan Thompson-Coates played the opinionated Warren to the right level.  He was well supported by Beth Barry who gave a powerful performance as Vivienne.

Mandy Pearson was a wonderful beautician, Paulette, the hair salon owner, and she showed all her experience in an excellent characterisation, her ‘Ireland’ being super with excellent diction.  I felt, however, that she could have been a bit more involved in the Irish dance that comes later in the show. 

Another performer giving us, and the younger cast, the benefit of experience was Richard Gorton as Callahan, the Professor.  He was tremendous in his ‘Blood in the Water’ which comes pretty much as soon as he gets on stage – it’s tough.

Georgia Kingston was, once again, energetic as Brooke in her ‘Whipped into Shape’ at the beginning of Act 2.  There were also some strong supporting performances by many of the large cast and the overall effect was a lot of fun.

I said earlier that the show is loud and it’s also shouty but, in spite of this, the audience must be able to hear the words properly and, at times in this production, that was not quite achieved.  The opener, ‘Omigod You Guys’, led in the main by the girls, set the tone in this respect.  Often, the orchestra gets blamed but that is not the case here as the band was splendid.

I enjoyed the choreography which was in keeping with the setting of the show and it was well presented.  The set was large and well manipulated by the stage crew and lighting and sound were effective.

The audience was seriously enthusiastic and positively enjoyed their evening!

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