Oh My God You Guys! - Little Theatre Company have done it again.
Legally Blonde the Musical may be perceived as a fluffy, funny, feel good, easy to produce production and taken on its face value this would perhaps appear to be true. However, on closer inspection, you can appreciate that Little Theatre Company has put in an awful lot of hard work into the making of this show, not least from its director, choreographer and stage manager, who must have been having kittens on the opening night - which with 2 dogs in the show is not ideal! With scene changes aplenty, all of which for the most part being done by members of the cast, the show runs seamlessly and at a good pace.
Legally Blonde tells the story of Elle Woods, the UCLA sorority girl, whose boyfriend, Warner, ditches her when he goes off to Harvard Law School because she’s ‘not serious enough’ for him. This, from first impressions, would seem a fair call judging from the what we see of Elle and her sorority sisters from Delta Nu in the startling loud opening number, Omigod You Guys.
The role of Elle is played by Eleanore McCann and it fits her as perfectly as a Gucci glove. This is clearly a part that Eleanore has coveted for a long time as she gives a stunning performance with some fabulous characterisation that only someone who has lived to play this part could give. She has clearly done her homework and pulled off a very amiable and endearing Elle.
The snobby Warner, played by Tobias Smith, swans off to Harvard declaring that Elle is more of a ‘Marilyn (Monroe) than a Jackie (Kennedy)’ in a lovely dinner scene where Elle is convinced she’s being proposed to.
Needing to be brought back from her “shame spiral”, Elle then decides that the only way to win Warner back is to go to Harvard and although this may seem rather hopeless for someone like herself, she manages to win her way into the school with the help of her Delta Nu sisters in a fabulously fun cheerleader style dance number, What You Want. There are some lovely cameos here from Colin and Audrey Bott as Elle’s parents.
Naturally, it’s not all plain sailing but Elle forms allies in the form of Emmett Forrest, nicely underplayed by Olly Gourley, and Enid Hoopes who was played brilliantly by Kate Andrews, with some great comedic moments and who was actually one of my favourite characters in the show.
I really enjoyed the scene in the department store where Elle gets to shop for clothes for Emmett which was well played with some great chemistry between the two.
After a spell of getting kicked out of her law classes by Professor Callaghan (Paul Smith) and some major put downs from arch-rival, Vivienne, deliciously played by Reanne Nash, Elle has a moment of self-doubt and turns to Paulette at The Hair Affair Salon. Lianne Larthe, seemed to be in her element playing this part and I loved the Bend And Snap number in Act 2 with John Blatchford getting all the ladies in the audience hot under the collar as Kyle the UPS delivery man.
Throughout the show, Elle is supported by the visions of her Delta Nu sisters who appear in the form of a ‘Greek Chorus’ and these are nicely played by Victoria Tewes, Eleanor Softly and Louisa Strachan, although I’m not sure so much smoke was needed in these moments.
Choreographer, Laura Witherall, has done a fabulous job with this cast with some excellent dance numbers, not least with Gemma Carracher as the exercise queen, Brooke Wyndham, in a skipping rope number, Whipped Into Shape.
A special nod also to Julian Cottee and Chris Lidgard in Gay or European which was hilarious and also cleverly choreographed.
Two performers who managed to completely endear themselves to the audience without completely upstaging the stars of the show, were Milo and Bruce playing Elle and Paulette’s pet dogs, Bruiser and Rufus. However, Bruce did bring to mind that old quote about never working with children and animals, when he seemed to blatantly refuse to move on a couple of occasions. This, quite frankly, only endeared him more to the audience and I sense has more to do with him just being rather lethargic rather than not wanting to tread the boards.
So, without ruining the plot, I think it’s fair to say that despite the inevitable setbacks thrown at her, Elle proves that ‘being true to yourself never goes out of style” as she manages to find her way to a happy ending.
Legally Blonde is one of those musicals that allows you to just sit back and enjoy. It’s a feel good story that requires no overthinking from its audience. However, it requires an awful lot from its cast with a huge amount of energy needed to perform many of the musical numbers which director, Darren Harper, has obviously worked hard on getting from his performers, along with Ashton Moore as musical director.
Legally Blonde the Musical will certainly leave you with a smile on your face and with so many great tunes in the score I can almost guarantee that once you’ve seen it, your ear worm for the week will be Omigod You Guys. Eleanore McCann along with the rest of the LTC cast really do “win the prize!”.
Kim Tobin – MyTownSouthend
