Legally Blonde, The Musical
In my delight at seeing Priscilla, I put a note on Facebook with an update. From there, another friend let me know he had an extra free ticket to see Legally Blonde, The Musical. Again, this is one of those shows I might have gone to see for a tenner. I liked the movie well enough, but a musical of it? At least I knew how it would end and that it’d be a fairly upbeat show.
I arrived at 7 to find my friend and/or pick up the tickets at the box office if I made it first, which I did. Little did I know that the list we were on was a first-come-first-serve ordeal and we needed to wait in line for whatever tickets we were given. By the time I made it to the line, I saw my friend and he and I stood and waited to get tickets while he explained the show was not yet open and we were there for a sneak preview. Another friend of his does theatre PR and had told him when/where to show up. We proceeded to get tickets, albeit not together, in the grand circle. This, to those who dont know, is in the top of the theatre’s balconies. While the Savoy Theatre is incredibly deep, my friend decided the seats were not to his liking and gave me a hug and left. I sat down and the view from E1 was just fine.
First Act: Lots of pink, squealing and high-pitched and nasal-sounding girls. Bruiser is cute and got just as much of a cheer as Elle did when she appeared. The plot follows closely to the movie script, but with a few subtle changes. The voices were good, but the songs were a bit corny. The comedic timing of the cast was spot-on, while the spotlights were not. I was incredibly disappointed by the lighting and the set design.
During the intermission, the girl who was sitting in front of me wrote a text to someone that basically summed up my thoughts: Better than expected. Sheridan’s (Elle) voice was great. Spotting and design were incredibly rough. Looked like a touring show.
That final sentence was exactly what it looked like. It did feel like a touring show, not a show in its home theatre. They had a great cast, but the sets (especially from our upper view) were lacking polish and we kept seeing the giant trap door opening/closing to raise and lower sets. Anyone in stalls would not have seen it, but I imagine from dress circle you can see it too.
Second Act: Lots of navy, still some squealing (OH MY GOD!), lots of good laughs. The second act was much stronger than the first. I think it might be due to Paulette’s character getting her ‘bend and snap’ on, Brooke’s song and jump rope routine and the UPS man’s entrance being some of the most hilarious moments of the show. We also saw Paulette’s bulldog on stage when she goes to reclaim him from her deadbeat ex–another ‘awwww’ moment from the audience.
In general, it was a fun show. The sets may not have been as sophisticated as others I have seen, but it looks like they spent their money on a spectacular cast, rather than fancy props. I think the show will not win the critics’ hearts, but for pure entertainment, it’s a nice piece of fluff for the rest of us.
