LEGALLY BLONDE, The Musical (playing through August 20th),
based on the outrageous movie of the same name, is – well, I hope I don’t damn
it by saying this – cute, very cute. Heather Hatch’s sorority story is a slow
starter but Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin’s delightful songs get the
engine moving so that by scene four, it’s purring along.
LEGALLY BLONDE’s saving grace is that even little girls (and
there were lots of them when I attended) seem to know that it’s all tongue in
cheek. At least I hope you can’t get into Harvard Law
School merely by shaking up
the stuffy academics with a shake of a pompom. (I must say the idea of a
marching band invading those somber halls is mighty amusing). So see it for the
silly songs, like “Bend
and Snap” and for two stellar female performances in the Company production.
Sarah Kelly is utterly charming and just a wee bit
“irritating” – (Mind you, she’s supposed to be, “She even irritates herself!”) –
as Elle, the Delta Nu beauty who has to make herself over to get into Harvard
(albeit for all the wrong reasons) and Kaleigh Rose Bradley brings down the
house as Elle’s Irish step dancing, hairstyling partner in crime (solving).
Bradley is a professional step dancer so you know choreographer Sally Ashton
Forrest’s “Irish” finale will pop.
Opening weekend had a few glitches, like music director Steve
Bass’ extremely LOUD orchestra (which often drowned out the clever song lyrics)
and some very odd staging which I’m sure the directors have fixed by now, like
the peculiar placement of the singing sorority sisters, all bunched up unevenly
when there was plenty of room to spread out. That left me scratching my head,
as did an awkward cross for an admissions dean who found himself on the wrong
side of the marching band in the “What You Want” number. But that’s what
opening night gremlins often wreak. By the time you see the show, I’m sure experienced
directors Zoe Bradford and Jordie Saucerman will have ironed out the kinks.
Look for some smart, cheeky turns from A. John Porcaro as the
frightening shark of a law professor who can smell “Blood in the Water” from
ten miles away and from Danny Bolton as the straight laced admissions chair
totally overthrown by Elle’s all dancing, all singing “personal essay.” As they
say in Gilbert & Sullivan’s MIKADO, “[He] doesn’t think he dances but would
rather like to try.” Bolton’s amusing attempt
nearly upstages the drum major. Speaking of (legal) scene stealing, Ryan Barrow
as the UPS guy cuts quite a swath. Then he cuts an impressive rug, step dancing
with Bradley! By the time the finale rolls around, you’ll be smitten yourself.
