Oh
my God! It's here until December 6th at the DuPont Theatre. That's right, it's the musicalized
version of "Legally Blonde" with Music and Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach.
Based
upon the novel by Amanda Brown which was turned into the hit MGM movie starring
Reis Witherspoon, Luke Wilson and Victor Garber, "Legally Blonde" is
the journey of Elle Woods, a Malibu girl who loves pink clothes, her sorority
sisters, her little Chihuahua and her fiancˇ, Warner. When Harvard Law School
bound Warner decides to dump her as he no longer finds her to be suitable
marriage material, Elle decides to fight for her man. She works like the
Dickens to get accepted to Harvard to follow her love. Her hard work pays off
and she gets in. But that's where the real journey begins. Harvard students are
not so accepting of this California girl and Elle struggles to fit in. Along
the way she makes some new friends, successfully defends a high profile client
in a murder trial and discovers what is really important to her in life.
The
first act is a swirl of fun but pretty light fare with lots of upbeat songs
like, "Omigod, you guys", "Positive" and "So Much
Better".
But the musical style does reflect the perky tone of the piece and the use of
the "Greek" chorus (Elle's sorority sisters who become her conscience
later on) is extremely clever. Act II has more of an interesting story to tell
and consequently the songs mirror that.
Becky
Gulsvig is
enchanting in the demanding role of Elle (She never does seem to leave the
stage.) With a voice reminiscent of Kristin Chenowith and a physical presence
that's almost a clone of Reis Witherspoon, Ms. Gulsvig sings and dances for two
and a half hours making it all look rather effortless. D. B. Bonds is endearing as Emmett Forrest,
Elle's first friend at Harvard and future love interest. Ken Land is a welcome jolt of conflict as
the villainous Professor Callahan especially with his song, "Blood in
the Water"
This number is a much needed bit of bitters to cut the vanilla flavoring of
most of Act I. Mr. Land does a good job of making Callahan the feared, yet
venerated professor, until he shows his true colors. CJay Hardy Philip (understudy) was very funny as
Paulette, the sympathetic hair dresser that Elle befriends. There is no listing
in the program of the actor who played Brendan, the UPS guy, so I can't laud his fab
performance. The two dogs, Frankie and Nellie as Bruiser and Rufus, of course, steal whatever scenes
they are in.
The
costumes or variations on the color pink by Gregg Barnes were like jumping into a vat
mixed with Express, The Limited, Charlotte Russe, Victoria's Secret and Forever
21. In short, every girl in the audience wants to go home wearing something from
the show. My only caveat is that there seemed to be sound issues that kept us
from hearing the pit orchestra as well as we should have. But these are
glitches that will probably be worked out during the run.
The
best thing about "Legally Blonde" - The Musical, is that, just as
Elle Woods stays true to herself and wins over hearts at Harvard Law; this
musical has remained true to the original hit movie and wins over audiences in
the end.
For
tickets call the Box Office at (302) 656-4401 or toll free at 1-800-338-0881,
or log onto the DuPont Theatre's website at: www.duponttheatre.com