Legally Blonde is an all singing, all dancing story of love, having faith in and being true to one’s self, not judging a book by its cover and the power of the sisterhood.

Full of wonderful pastiche and cheese wrapped in a gentle layer of heart and a shimmy of sass, the story is about sorority president Elle Wood’s quest to become more ‘serious’ to win back her ex – Warner Huntington III. This takes her to Harvard to study law and she is helped on her journey of self-discovery by attorney Emmett Forrest, hairdresser Paulette Bunofuonte and her unwavering sorority ‘Greek chorus’ sisters Serena, Pilar and Margot . They challenge her to be so much more than the stereotypical Blonde and to rise above the institutional sexism exhibited by pompous Professor Callahan.

Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the movie by MGM, Legally Blonde The Musical is a very clever and fun piece of theatre. Director Ben Emerson has utilised the stage at Whitireia Performance centre cleverly with minimal props, form benches and a building-frame set which can represents shop windows or the university and court room walls with enhancing lighting designed by Rowan McShane. The bright arena styled lighting is used to great effect in the large showy dance numbers and the variety of costumes (Lisa Kiyomoto Fink) reflect the characters’ personalities well.

The music is upbeat and current, covering styles from pop (modern and yesteryear), and rap with rare moments of reflective ballad. The band powers along under the baton of Michael Stebbings to support the actors and dancers who pop, lock and shake to the slick and high octane choreography of Briar Franks.

Kirsty Moir is a strong Elle Woods, passionate and full of hopes and dreams, albeit misguided in what/who she is actually pursuing. She quickly transforms some initial nervous disconnect into a gutsy confident and secure performance with focused stylised singing.

Ed Blunden has a light beauty to his voice and delivers his role of Emmett with poignancy and honest good guy character. The developing relationship and chemistry between him and Elle is delightful and poignant particularly in songs like ‘Chip on my Shoulder’and ‘Legally Blonde’.

The whole company is totally committed to the story through their singing, dancing and often hilarious characterisations with many stepping into the multitude of smaller cameo roles, giving chances to shine and gain performing confidence and skill without having to take on a larger role. 

Legally Blonde offers a diverse range of character roles. Paulette, a genuine, heart-on-her-sleeve kind of gal isplayed by Karen Anslow, who relishes this humorous role and shows off her wide range of vocal and acting skills. Both Dominic Taffs, the cavalier Warner, and Mike Bryant, the supercilious Professor Callanan, bring out the unlikeable and fallible traits of their characters well. Ziyanda Matshe’s Vivienne Kensington travels her own road of discovery from distain of Elle to a follower in her excellently sung ‘Legally Blonde remix’, while Ruby Kemp as Enid Hoops shows her versatility in both voice and comedy.

Of real note are the three lead sorority sisters Serena (Ellie Stewart), Pilar (Kree McMillan) and Margot (Brigid Boyle) who command the stage individually and especially as a group. Their obvious fun and connection is infectious. And I have to mention Stacey O’Brien’s character Brooke and her insanely good performance of ‘Whipped into Shape’ – a skipping singing exercise that all performers should put into their warmup routine for stamina!

As much as the story is funny and light and fluffy, it also brings strong messages to all of us in the audience: To thine own self be true (Shakespeare); love does not necessarily conquer all; us girls need to stick together, and sometimes having a chip on one’s shoulder can inspire us to do great things.

It’s a text-heavy show and lines come out thick and fast with lots of switching between nuance and comedy. The balance of sound mostly works but with no head mics it’s important that performers watch the direction of their singing so it doesn’t get lost in the colour of the instrumentation.

Wellington Footlights Society are filling a niche in Wellington’s musical theatre scene for performers to perform in a variety of revues and medium sized musicals that can be staged relatively simply without the need for a full theatre stage with flying equipment, and they are providing a platform to mentor and grow the young performers of today and tomorrow. 

So snap those Delta Nu sorority fingers and grab your sisters (or brothers) and get along for a fun night of theatre and remember: being true to yourself, never goes out of style.

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