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| Lucy Durack as Elle Woods Photo: Jeff Busby |
Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin.
Book by Heather Hach
Lyric Theatre, Sydney
4th October 2012
Reviewed by Bill Stephens
Omigod You Guys! This show is soooooo good! Tight as a drum, noisy as a brass band and funny as a bagful of monkeys with not a dull moment from the first notes of Kellie Dickerson’s red hot band to the final curtain which left the audience screaming for more.
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| Lucy Durack and Ensemble Photo: Jeff Busby |
John Frost’s stylish production of “Legally Blonde The
Musical” enjoyed the sort of opening night that keeps us going to the theatre. Anyone
who had doubts about Lucy Durack’s star power can forget them. From the moment she hits the stage, which is
very early in the show, she owns it.
Besides being drop dead gorgeous, Lucy positively sparkles. She sings
and dances like there’s no tomorrow, she’s funny, and best of all; she can tug
at your heartstrings and make you really care about Elle Woods. It’s the role
she was born to play and her brilliant performance is worth walking over hot
coals to see.
The storyline for this show is not particularly original. It
follows the travails of Elle Woods (Lucy Durack), a rich and ditsy blonde with
a passion for pink. Elle manages to get
into Harvard to study law so that she can be with her ex- boyfriend, Warner
Huntington 111 (Rob Mills). Warner has ambitions to become a Senator so he ditches
Elle because he doesn’t think she’s serious enough.
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| Rob Mills as Warner Hunting 111 and Lucy Durack as Elle Woods Photo: Jeff Busby |
Warner fails to notice that besides being beautiful, Elle
also has brains, and to everyone’s (except the audience) surprise, she eventually succeeds at Harvard,
and after sidestepping the advances of her lecherous lecturer, Professor Callahan (Cameron Daddo) Elle manages to win a court case involving a
gym-instructor , Brooke Wyndham, (Erica Heynatz) who has been accused of
murdering her husband.
The show covers familiar musical territory, being set largely on a university
campus, but the script is fresh, topical and witty. The songs also, while not
particularly memorable, are catchy and interestingly, the composers make clever
use of a couple of operatic devices, recitative and a Greek chorus, to narrate
and progress the action. David Rockwell's bright, flexible set design includes a constantly
moving proscenium which continually and intriguingly changes perspective and focus,
and with the aid of some clever lighting, allows the show to flow seamlessly
from scene to scene.
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| David Harris as Emmett Forrest, Cameron Daddo as Professor Callahan, Lucy Durack as Elle Woods Robb Mills as Warner Huntingon 111, Ali Calder as Vivienne Kensington and ensemble. Photo Jeff Busby |
Jerry Mitchell’s slick direction never lets the show sag for
a moment and his choreography is inventive and energetically danced by the
company, particularly the “Whipped into Shape” number in which Erika Heynatz, in
an impressive stage debut playing the
suspected murderess Gym Instructor,
Brook Wyndham, confidently leads a group of prison inmates through an intricate
skipping-rope routine.
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| Erica Heynatz as Brooke Wyndham Photo: Jeff Busby |
The rest of the casting is equally satisfying. David Harris brings warmth and a fine singing
voice to his role as law student, Emmett Harris. Rob Mills finds exactly the
right balance in his role as the swollen-headed but likeable heel, Warner
Huntington 111.
Helen Dallimore is both funny and vulnerable as the
trailer-trash beauty salon owner Paulette, and provides one of the highlights
of the evening with her lesson in seduction “Bend and snap”. Returning to the
Australian stage after a 20 year absence Cameron Daddo gives a stylish
performance as the handsome sleazebag, Professor Callahan, clearly relishing
his big number “Blood on the Water”. Ali
Calder impresses with her nicely judged performance as Warner’s sophisticated
girlfriend, Vivienne. Most of the ensemble
play multiple roles and there are some notable cameos, especially from “I Will
Survive” contestant, Mike Snell, in his short shorts, who gives a show-stealing
performance as the Irish delivery-boy, Kyle.
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| Helen Dallimore as Paulette and Mike Snell as Kyle Photo: Jeff Busby |
And talking of scene stealers. The show features two
adorable dogs which performed their roles perfectly on opening night much to
the delight of the audience.
Everything about "Legally Blonde" screams quality. It’s an entertaining feel-good show, intelligent script, catchy tunes, superbly staged and performed. It’s one of those memorable productions where
all the elements click to create a memorale theatrical experience which
lifts the spirit and sends the audience out of the theatre on a high. It has “HIT”
written all over it. See for yourself.
