Legally Blonde: Let 'Em Eat Cake

Didn't read the book.

Never saw the movie.

Not sure if I even know what this Reese Witherspoon person looks like.  I hear she's blonde.

Fresh from the Easy-Bake kitchens of musical comedy, Legally Blonde is like a big bowl of sugary butter cream frosting that you can't resist dipping your finger into and licking off every bit of delectable goodness.  The only trouble is that after a while you start wondering when the hell you're going to get some cake.

Mindless fun is a good thing.  The history of musical theatre is loaded with wonderful mindless fun shows like Anything Goes, Damn Yankees and 42^nd Street.  But mindless fun without the cake like qualities of cleverness, empathy and variety can quickly get as tiresome as two and a half hours of dipping and licking.  With director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell's exceptionally talented cast full of proven scene-stealers and show-stoppers, Legally Blonde is never dull, but a disappointingly uninspired score from co-composer/lyricists Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, who have both done so much better than this, their Broadway debut, and perfunctory work by first-time bookwriter Heather Hach give the production little foundation to build on, despite an atmosphere that continually jabs its elbow into our ribs, insisting we're all having a totally awesome time.

The story of Elle Wood, a peppy and pretty UCLA blonde who gets dumped by her Harvard Law School-bound boyfriend because she doesn't seem serious enough to be wife material, so she not only applies herself but gets accepted, earns a coveted internship and nearly single-handedly wins a lost-cause case, is the kind of story that smacks of musical comedy.  It's just wacky enough to effortlessly sing and dance and a heroine who fights against people's assumptions about her lack of brains because of her appearance, personality and fashion sense is the kind of character you can cheer for.  And in past performances Laura Bell Bundy has displayed the singing and acting skills, and the comic chops to play off of her blonde babe looks, that should make her a perfect choice for the lead role.  In Legally Blonde she's got the charm, spirit and talent to pull off a star performance.  What she doesn't have is a star role.  Elle may carry the bulk of the musical's stage time but the authors continually upstage her with more interesting characters who get much better material.  Not only is there no character establishing song to give us a reason to like her and want her to succeed, but Bundy is rarely alone on stage without being joined by a Greek chorus of sorority sisters, led by the attention-grabbing voice and presence of the quirkily funny Leslie Kritzer, a performer who is way too good for her tiny role. 

What passes for character development is Elle's habit of alternating impressively clever moves, like the way she outsmarts a sales clerk trying to rip her off, with ridiculously dumb ones, like how she comes to her first class completely unprepared.  (Didn't she see The Paper Chase?)  Amidst all the production's cheery flash and dazzle, Christian Borle gives a winning performance by taking the low-key route as the tousled teaching assistant who plays a shy Pygmalion to her Galatea, teaching her the mysteries of succeeding in law school like how she should spend less time partying and more time studying.  She teaches him how to shop for awesome clothes.

The score contains a few (exactly a few) solid numbers.  As Elle's manicurist pal, the very funny Orfeh belts out "Ireland," a number that's bound to make it's way into a few cabaret acts with its joke-packed lyric describing her dream romance with a guy who can dance without moving his arms.  Slick and cool as the tough and morally challenged professor, Michael Rupert gets a winner with "Blood In The Water," an ethics lesson for sharks-in-training, and the climatic trial features a clever scene-song where the young lawyers are trying to determine if an opposing witness is gay or just European.  The rest is mostly fast and forgettable, save for an opening number that seems to repeat the words "Omigod You Guys" more times that Jerry Herman repeated "Dolly" and "Mame" combined.  It doesn't help that Mitchell's choreography is repetitive and lacking in both texture and build, playing most of the evening at the same insanely high energy pace.

Supporting roles are handled with spunk and keen comic finesse by Richard H. Blake as Elle's image-conscious ex, Kate Shindle as his humorless new love, Andy Karl as a hunky UPS guy and especially Natalie Joy Johnson as a loveably girl-crazy co-ed.

The designers do a splendid job with David Rockwell contributing another one of his pretty and gracefully kinetic sets and Gregg Barnes' colorful, sexy and humorous costumes displaying the right touches of overkill under Ken Posner and Paul Miller's candy-colored lights.  And yes, the rumors you've heard are true.  There's a lot of pink.

Oh, and there's a couple of dogs in the show.  They're good for making the audience go, "Awwwwww."

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:  Laura Bell Bundy
Center:  Christian Borle
Bottom:  Orfeh and Laura Bell Bundy