Stage Review - Legally Blonde the Musical (Village Theatre)
Stage Review - Legally Blonde the Musical
Presented By: Village Theatre - Issaquah, WA
Show Run: November 12 - December 22, 2024 (Everett: January 04-26)
Date Reviewed: Saturday, November 16, 2024 (Opening Weekend)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
Legally Blonde is just one in a long line of popular films that have gotten the musical theatre treatment. Following the success of the 2001 film, featuring Reese Witherspoon in a comedic breakout role as Elle Woods, the sorority girl from Malibu who follows ex-boyfriend Warner Huntington III to Harvard Law School in order to show him how “serious” she can be, to win him back, only to find that there’s a lot more to her than she ever thought, the story was quickly turned around into a musical, hitting Broadway in 2007 in a production with music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. The movie, which even saw a sequel in 2003, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde, was based Amanda Brown’s book of the same name, which depicted the author’s experience in attending Stanford law while being obsessed, like Elle, with fashion and beauty, shattering the stereotype both of the female law student and the beauty-obsessed sorority sister. Both the book and film play out as a strong female empowerment story. The film has become almost a cult classic, its popularity due in large part to the fact that it has a substantive foundation lying below its fluffy exterior. Village Theatre, in its “season of hits”, has chosen Legally Blonde the Musical as the second show in its 2024-25 season, in a production directed by Meredith McDonough and featuring the immensely talented Betsy Stewart as Elle Woods. The show runs through December 22 at Village’s Issaquah location before moving to Everett, where it plays on stage from January 4th through the 26th.
The challenge with Legally Blonde is the musical itself. The general plot of the piece deviates little from the film. There’s plenty of the fluff, a lot of the feel good moments, a plethora of pink, and a ton of fun. But what has been taken out, ostensibly to be replaced with songs that, for my part, are average in the annals of musical theatre, perhaps with the exception of the opener “Omigod You Guys”, which is catchy and memorable, perhaps only because it’s so long, is the substance, and with it, the heart of the story. There’s nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking with the music, and where many stage versions of films tend to add exposition to characters, story details, or additional story arcs, Legally Blonde has so much less than its film version, and much of what it does include from the film feels shoehorned in. The musical version of Legally Blonde is like eating empty calories, it’s fun, but beyond that, there’s nothing structurally beneficial to its existence.
What redeems the Village Theatre production is what director Meredith McDonough has done, with her vision, the creative team she has assembled, and the cast she has put together on stage. Sure, Meredith can’t change what, in my opinion, is average source material, but what she has done is taken something that would otherwise be something I’d tell you to run away from, and create something that is actually worth coming to see. It’s very nicely designed, and it’s extremely well performed. From a character perspective, the majority of the personalities here don’t deviate much from what has been made popular in the film, though Mark Emerson’s Professor Callahan is a bit more sharky than his film counterpart, and just as slimy, and Richard Peacock’s UPS Guy Kyle is a whole heck of a lot sexier than in the film. Otherwise, the characters are pretty equivalent to their film version, and the cast does a fine job with their portrayals. Betsy’s Elle Woods handles the self-confident and flighty sorority sister who transforms into the self-doubting law student and then further into the self-confident legal scholar very well. Ethan Carpenter as Warner is impeccably aloof and childish, Paulette is a great friend for Elle at a time when she needs it, and Cy Paolantonio is very strong as fitness guru Brooke Wyndham, the central focus of Act 2 in which she has been accused of killing her husband. But it’s not in their portrayals of these characters that makes their performances as good as they are, it’s actually the musical numbers, and more specifically it’s Katy Tabb’s choreography and this cast’s execution of it that makes this show. The high point of Legally Blonde, and the piece that puts a fine point on how good the choreography is happens at the beginning of Act 2, with Cy’s Brooke Wyndham leading the group in “Whipped into Shape”, perhaps the most energetic and acrobatic dance number on stage this season, involving a physicality that is unparalleled. Cy and the company use jump ropes in creative synchronicity, in a way to make the audience believe they’re watching one of Brooke’s exercise videos, or more precisely the audience is watching Callahan’s legal team watch the exercise video, which they pause and start again and again, making Cy and her team stop and start, and then start and stop the number. “Whipped into Shape” is quite an adventure, and itself is a reason to come to see Legally Blonde.
Other musical highlights include “Blood in the Water”, led by Mark Emerson’s Professor Callahan, exposing his view on what makes a good lawyer, and the Irish dance performed by Trina Mills’ Paulette, Richard Peacock’s Kyle, and the company. I like Trina as Paulette, she and Richard make a good couple as Paulette and Kyle, and I would have liked to see more of them in this version of the story. And I like the edge that Mark’s Callahan has here, he’s more of a hard-nosed lawyer, and while he is still the misogynistic legal eagle from the film, it’s this new dimension that makes a difference in the musical. The opening number doesn’t just feature the catchiest of the songs, “Omigod You Guys”, as well as more excellent choreography and wonderful performances from the ensemble, including sorority sisters Serena (Kristin Burch), Pilar (Nalica Hennings), and Margot (Arika Matoba), but it also showcases the other excellent components of Meredith’s design team. Set Designer Lex Liang’s pieces slide in from the wings or drop down from the rafters, creating seamless scene and location changes. In this opening number alone, the setting changes from the outside of the Delta Nu sorority and its opening doors and windows, to the inside of it, complete with grand staircase leading to Elle’s room, to the mall where Elle is shopping for her date with Warner, back again to the inside of Delta Nu, and then to the palm tree adorned restaurant as a setup for the second number, “Serious”, with Betsy’s Elle and Ethan Carpenter’s Warner. The set pieces are flashy and beautiful and move in and out so smoothly, keeping up with the pace of the show. The opener also features just a portion of Costume Designer Harmony Arnold’s work, which in this show includes cheerleader outfits, denim and casual attire, pink-laden marching band adjacent uniforms, and clothing that’s not just fashionable, but also functional for some quick-change scenes. Yes, there’s a lot of pink, but even when Elle becomes a bit more serious, her wardrobe never loses the heart of who she really is.
But again, it’s the choreography that’s a winner here for me. It’s active, it’s challenging, it’s snappy, and it’s fun. And as good as the group is in their dancing, vocally, under the music direction of Tim Symons, they are just as impressive. So, putting the two together is what makes Legally Blonde as enjoyable as it is. Betsy is a wonderful vocalist and carries Elle’s personality through in her music, and she does very well as a lead during the ensemble numbers like “What You Want” or “So Much Better”. With Ethan’s Warner and later Coleman Cummings’ Emmett, the lawyer in the employ of Callahan helping out with his class, Betsy does very well in duet, and despite some microphone volume issues during Coleman’s performance on Saturday evening, both of those performances were very nice. Trina Mills as Paulette is also excellent in her performance of “Ireland” and later in the very humorous “Bend and Snap” with Betsy’s Elle, Kristin’s Serena, Arika’s Margot, Nalica’s Pilar, and the ensemble, which also includes Shelby Willis and Lauren Paris.
There are other moments of goodness in Legally Blonde, of course. Cassi Q. Kohl brings her usual enthusiastic brand of acting to her portrayal of Elle’s new friend Enid, while Daniel Cruz brings a hysterical angle to his Nicos, the accused’s poolboy who is supposedly having an affair with her, and Cherisse Martinelli as Vivienne, Warner’s new uptight, “serious” girlfriend. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Bruiser and Rufus, the two canine stars of Legally Blonde, played by Nugget and Roxanne respectively. None of the actors got more oohs and aahs than these two on Saturday. And on the creative side, Yael Lubetzky and Kurt Conway have done a nice job with their lighting and sound designs. Overall, this is a very well produced and put together show, which at the end of the day makes it enjoyable, despite its bland skewing source material.
Legally Blonde the Musical is a pale imitation of its film counterpart. The stage version lacks the substance of the story of female empowerment that made Reese Witherspoon a star, and the songs it replaces that substance with are average at best. But what makes the Village Theatre production of Legally Blonde something worth seeing isn’t the empty calories that make up the plot and music, but rather the production value and performance quality from a talented cast under the direction of Meredith McDonough. With choreography that is exciting, challenging, and fun, and both individual and ensemble performances that are superb, this production of Legally Blonde doesn’t just make this story watchable, but makes it enjoyable, and fun. And at the end of the day, sometimes that’s all we need.
Legally Blonde the Musical runs on stage at Village Theatre’s Issaquah location through December 22 before moving to Everett for its run there beginning January 4, 2026. For more information, including ticket sales and availability, visit https://villagetheatre.org/.
Photo credit: Auston James
