Omigod you guys, Legally Blonde – The Musical doesn’t suck.
I know that doesn’t sound like much of a compliment, but when you consider that this is yet another cog in the nostalgic money-grab wheel of ’90s and ’00s movies reborn as musicals, it’s high praise indeed.
Because let’s be frank, most of these resurrections are hollow shells. Shows that only resonate if we’ve adored their movie inspirations.
With this as our benchmark, Legally Blonde, brought to the Hobby stage by Theatre Under the Stars, while certainly not spectacular theater craft, is sweet, girl-positive, campy, squealy fun. More importantly, it’s a musical (music by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach) that will make devotees happy and not leave newbies in the dark re all the fuss.
Based on the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, the story hinges on upending the dumb blond stereotype. Sorority sister, party girl and UCLA fashion merchandising major, Elle Woods (Hannah Bonnett) is dumped by her dreamboat boyfriend Warner (James Oblak) when he gets into Harvard Law School and decides it’s time for a “more serious” partner in life.
In an attempt to win him back, Elle miraculously aces her LSAT and joins Werner at the Ivy League school in the hopes of proving her worth. But instead of snagging her unworthy man, Elle becomes a crackerjack lawyer and falls for her TA, Emmett (Woody White) an honorable man who sees and encourages Elle’s potential. Messages of fulfillment, working hard, being true to yourself, your word and your fellow sisters abound.
And of course, there are the people she meets along the way – classmates Vivienne (Lea Sevola), Warner’s snobby new girlfriend and Uber activist/feminist/lesbian Enid (Harley Barton) and hairdresser/confidant Paulette (Ashley Morton).
However, it’s her ride or dies, her three besties, Delta Nu sorority sisters (Jesse Lynn Harte, Taylor Lloyd, Rory Furey-King) that smartly get more airtime in this stage version. Here acting as a self-identified Greek chorus, the girls cheerlead and give inner voice to Elle’s journey throughout the show.
But mostly they just bounce/dance. Like, a lot.
Bob Richard’s energetic choreography here isn’t so much dance numbers as it is cheer squad with a healthy dollop of female jumping up and down giddiness. But when the first number is entitled “Omigod You Guys” that’s exactly the kind of dancing you want.
Big bouncy ensemble numbers pepper the show giving it a pep rally feeling and quite a few laughs along the way.
Equally clever is the decision not to bog down the show with unnecessary ballads. Only one in the whole show. This is a hot pink explosion of a musical and energy is needed to keep the fluffy fun going. While none of the numbers are particularly memorable musically, there’s no arguing that we’re never bored.
Even when the show’s confusing number about Ireland of all things hits us with a big, huh? Sung by Paulette (a role made iconic by the unmatched quirkiness of Jennifer Coolidge) it tries desperately to make the onstage role as memorable as it was in the film. Instead, it feels like a sidestep away from the story we were quite enjoying.
Regarding story, like most film-to-musical adaptations, Legally Blonde has been updated. There are cell phones and nods to social media. There’s an attempt to skirt some of the homophobic elements of the movie. And an interesting but not altogether successful refresh on the role of Elle herself that greatly reduces how shallow/ditsy she comes across at first.
Instead, Bonnet (whose strong voice and easy performance nicely guides the show) plays it far more grounded and serious with only flashes of the fun-loving party girl Elle is purported to be. Yes, she is still clad head to toe in her favorite color, pink. Or any shade of pink for that matter. With sparkle and faux fur, of course. But she often comes across like a standard leading lady rather than THE Elle Woods.
On the one hand, it’s refreshing to see Elle shed some of the dumb blond female stereotypes that were fashionable in the 2000s. On the other hand, the transformation from fashion junkie/good-time girl to serious lawyer is far less impressive. And ultimately, less satisfying.
Then there’s the set/costume design.
There’s no question the trend of projecting sets on stage is here to stay. It’s cheap to produce and you can get a million design changes with only the push of a button. I’ve yet to see it used where it doesn’t look like a bad cartoon and Legally Blonde is no exception. We go from hearts and OMG’s whirling around the backdrop to the dusty bookshelves of the law school. It’s fever dream meets stock photo. None of it is inviting. At least to my taste.
But it’s the costumes that really irk in this show. Why oh why did they send poor Elle out in the final pivotal courtroom scene in a pink suit where the hue of the blazer didn’t match color the pants? Utter sacrilege! Elle herself would be livid if she was allowed to be.
We’ll take a mismatched suit any day though if it means we could do something about the many hilarious bad wigs that pepper this production.
Several cast members had hair netting showing and many just looked comically fake, including Elle’s long blonde plastic-looking tresses. Perhaps it’s nitpicking to obsess over wigs and mismatched suiting in an otherwise entertaining and full-of-talent show, but at ticket prices this high, it was shocking to see what amounted to cheap choices made onstage.
Or if not cheap – then inattention to detail.
Will audiences notice? Probably not. They’ll be having too much fun as the whooping/applause indicated on opening night.
But just like Elle eventually lives up to her potential, it’s not too much to ask that this production design does as well.
Maybe they can Delta Nu swear that they’ll try to make it better. Elle would for sure hold them to their promise.
Legally Blonde continues through April 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursdays and Sunday, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8887 or visit tuts.com. $40 to $135.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
