Review: LEGALLY BLONDE at Garden Theater

Musicals based on movies are kind of like the comfort food of Broadway. They’re often warm, and familiar, and they rarely excite one’s palate.

At first glance, the idea of a musical based on the movie, LEGALLY BLONDE, seems about as challenging as a fried bologna sandwich. However, Short North Stage’s production of the musical penned by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin (lyrics) and Heather Hach (book) is a Michelin-starred performance.

The musical is a deconstructed version of the 2001 movie starring Reese Witherspoon. SNS elevates its presentation with another stellar cast, tight choreography and several minute details and musical director Jonathan Collura helps the cast deliver the show’s snappy, tightly fashioned songs with power. The net result far exceeds the entertainment value of the original non-musical movie.

LEGALLY BLONDE runs July 11-August 11 at the Garden Theater (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus).

The musical follows the journey of Elle Woods (Laura Overby), a UCLA sorority queen who is jilted by snooty Harvard Law School-bound boyfriend Warner Huntington III (James Oblak). Huntington tells Woods she is beautiful, but adds he is looking for someone who is “less of a Marilyn, more of a Jackie … somebody classy and not too tacky.”

Stung by Huntington’s non-proposal, Woods works to get admitted into Harvard to win him back. She is quickly humiliated. Not only has Huntington found his “Jackie” in the snobbish Vivenne Kensington (Sydney Freihofer), Woods’ sunny, pink-tinted attitude causes her to be dismissed by Law Professor Callahan (Ryan Boda) and rejected by her Harvard classmates.

Woods makes two friends, both of whom are outsiders in Cambridge, Mass. Emmett Forrest (Lake Wilburn) is a driven student from a middle class family, and hairstylist Paulette (Vera Ryan Cremeans) is about as far outside the privileged circles as one can get. Under Forrest’s tutelage, Woods seemingly earns the respect of Callahan. She is offered a spot on his defense team representing fitness guru Brooke Wyndham (Maggie Taylor) who is accused of murdering her husband. By being true to herself, Woods plays a key role in getting Wyndham acquitted.

The pillars of the performance are Overby, Cremeans, Oblak, and Wilburn. Over the course of the musical, Overby takes a Beverly Hills cliché of a pink-wearing, dog-toting, fish-out-of-Perrier-water character and turns her into something believable, vulnerable, and real. Her delivery of the title song, “Legally Blonde,” presents a broken and bruised Barbie on the verge of quitting: “Chalk it all up to experience/They said I'd fail but I disagreed/Who could say then where my path would lead? Well, now I know/Back to the sun, back to the shore
back to what I was before.” In this musical built on fun, Overby delivers some real, powerful, emotion. Wilburn is the perfect counterbalance to Overby’s Woods. His signature song, “Chip On My Shoulder” is the turning point of the show. Throughout the two-hour, two-act show, he evolves from being somewhat bemused by Woods to being entranced by her. By the end of the show, Woods and Forrest belong together like … woods and forests.

On the other hand, Oblak slowly peels back the layers of Huntington to reveal he is the shallow one. Finally, Huntington gives up his pursuit of being a lawyer to being a model because he can make more money as the latter. Cremeans’ Paulette is a comic foil for Woods but the two have more in common than what meets the eye. Like Woods, Paulette’s dreams are crushed by a man, her mullet-accessorized ex-boyfriend Dewey (Jordan Young), and then, like Woods, she discovers love with someone new -- a UPS driver named Kyle (also played by Young).

LEGALLY BLONDE’s cast is rich in talent. Boda is perfect as the conniving professor/lawyer Callahan and his villainous take on “Blood In the Water” is one of the highlights of the show. Freihofer’s Vivenne undergoes her own journey of self-discovery, going from being Woods’ adversary to supporting her over Huntington.  

Woods’ Delta Nu sorority sisters, Serena (Tatum Beck), Margot (Lindsay Bates) and Pilar (Juno Brosas) serve as the show’s omnipresent outsiders who introduce different aspects of the show. Serena explains, “Elle, this is a tragedy. And every tragedy needs... a Greek Chorus!”

Director Dionysia Williams-Velazco produces flashy dance numbers like “Whipped Into Shape.” Taylor’s performance as Wyndham is breath-taking as she leads a tightly choreographed exercise class in which she shows how a jump rope can be used in a workout as well as a self-defense weapon.

SNS production rewards the audience for paying attention. For example, as Woods is singing “Legally Blonde,” lighting director Adam Ditzel backlights Overby’s hair to give the blonde wig hints of pink. In a nice touch by costumer Maria Fernanda Ortiz Lopez, Forrest switches from a generic business necktie to a pink striped one.

As it was opening night, the July 12 show had some flaws. There was a minute hole in the action in the second act, some faulty microphones, and one very reluctant co-star (Peppah, who plays Paulette’s long lost bulldog, “Rufus” looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but on stage).

Some of these could have torpedoed a lesser cast, but, with the quality of this show, the audience easily overlooked them. SNS did more than give its audience a retread of a Hollywood romcom. They whipped into shape something exceptional and unforgettable.

Photo credit:  Fyrebird Media

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