Even the rain that sprinkled on and off during Wednesday’s performance of Legally Blonde couldn’t dampen the audience’s spirits nor the bright pink aura that radiated from the show’s protagonist, Elle Woods (Lauren Ashley Zakrin).
The story, by now, is pretty well known: in an attempt to be “serious” enough for her college boyfriend, Warner (Matthew Hydzik), sorority girl Elle follows him to Harvard Law School. In this production, she’s banking on a recommendation from Oprah, and a lively cheer and music routine in addition to her grades and LSAT scores to get accepted. Hilarity ensues as Elle learns that Harvard is a bit more serious than she planned, and that she must somehow learn to stay true to herself while meeting the demands of law school, and helping out a few friends along the way.
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The show seems geared towards a young crowd, but the audience was surprisingly diverse. Yes, young women made up a pretty strong percentage of the crowd, but there were older women, and a fair number of men. Some of the most frequent laughter came from two elderly gentlemen sitting right in front of me.
The show could also easily fall flat or even border on predictable if the characters are miscast, or the humor isn’t just right. But, the Muny’s production of Legally Blonde provided both songs and dialogue with sharp humor, and a lively cast with great chemistry.
Zakrin does a fantastic job as Elle, the audience can practically feel her energy as she goes through her own highs and lows while at Harvard. But she’s not entirely alone. Once she encounters her first setback—seeing Warner with his new, serious girlfriend Vivienne (Sara Sheperd)—a few of her Delta Nu sorority sisters form a Greek chorus in response to the tragedy.
The Delta Nu chorus (featuring Tiffany Engen, Taylor Louderman and K.B. Hart) is outstanding, proving to be extremely entertaining whenever they show up, whether advising Elle to stay positive, or teaching Paulette (Lisa Howard) how to “Bend and snap!” Ken Land was both devilish and delightful as Professor Callahan. His first number, “Blood in the Water,” revealed him as an ominous cross between the Grinch and Chicago’s resident shark Billy Flynn.
Howard played Elle’s hairstylist, manicurist, and hilarious friend Paulette perfectly. She helped garner some of the biggest laughs as her object of affection—Kyle the UPS guy (Colt Prattes)—struck a knowing pose every time he left or entered the salon. Another hit was the courtroom number “There! Right There!” that posed the age-old question about a well-kept pool boy: “Is he gay? Or European?” There wasn’t a “straight face” for the entire song (pun sort of intended).
And while differences between the movie and the musical are to be expected, there seemed to be more character development within the musical that made for extra hilarity. In one instance we learned about Paulette’s undying desire to marry an Irish man, which was, at times, funny just because it was so strange.
Legally Blonde proved to be a savvy comedy full of wit, energy, and surprises. I’m no Oprah, but Elle Woods has got my recommendation.
