Legally Blonde:The Musical @ The Firehouse Theatre
—Jill Sweeney
It’s maybe a little surprising, the staying power of a twenty-year-old cream puff of a movie about a “dumb” blonde who makes good. Legally Blonde started life as a novel before being optioned as a film, which garnered a sequel or two, which then spawned a Broadway musical in 2007. Described in pitch meetings by screenwriter Kirsten Smith as Clueless meets The Paper Chase, the tale of Elle Woods’ pink-bedecked journey to overcome stereotyping and misogyny on her way to success has only gotten more relevant in the après #MeToo era. Add a little singing and dancing to the glitz and sparkle—a fun night at the theater, no? It’s a bit of a shame, then, that The Firehouse Theatre’s production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, while buoyed by an enthusiastic and energetic cast, is plagued by production issues that left this reviewer disappointed overall.
It seems unlikely that anyone doesn’t know the basic outline of Legally Blonde’s plot at this point, but to recap: Elle Woods (Annie Olive Cahill), the quintessential blonde Malibu sorority girl, gets dumped by her ambitious Harvard Law-bound boyfriend Warner (Jacob Clemmons) for not being “serious” enough for the future senator. Determined to win him back, she buckles down and gets into Harvard Law herself. But as she studies and strives to win a competitive internship, Elle realizes that perhaps she—along with everyone else in her life—has been blind to her potential. She is more than just pretty and blonde.
Elle Woods is an iconic character, and stepping into her sparkly T-strap pumps could intimidate any actress. Fortunately, Cahill is up to the challenge. Her Elle believably moves from shallow sorority girl to ambitious striver while never losing her charm or heart—and the girl’s got pipes.
Given that, it’s a real problem that the onstage band, lofted closely behind the action, so thoroughly overpowers the singers that a good two-thirds of the lyrics are lost, despite the fact that each actor is wearing a mic. Sitting in the front row makes no difference; a better balance should be found, stat. Fortunately, Cahill is given a simple accompaniment to the show’s title song, “Legally Blonde”—and she truly knocks it out of the park. The show’s big ensemble numbers also have enough verve to break through the noise, most notably in the musical’s funniest number, “Gay or European?”
The rest of the cast performs ably and enthusiastically, with some particular standouts. Doug Fowler’s Professor Callahan is sufficiently steely, but with enough ruthless charm to sell his big number, “Blood In The Water”, an ode to the worst qualities of the legal profession. The “Greek” chorus of Delta Nu girls amuses as they comment on the action, sometimes in reality, and sometimes only in Elle’s head. Nicole Choate gets off some snarky one-liners as Warner’s new girlfriend and Elle’s law school nemesis, and hits some impressively high belts at the end of several numbers.
As Paulette, Elle’s beauty salon confidante, DonnaMarie Knight was a bit of a scene-stealer, and even managed the character’s inexplicably Riverdance-themed choreography with aplomb. And speaking of choreography, points to director/choreographer Ashley Puckett Gonzales and Laura Lyman Payne as Brooke Wyndham for pulling off the truly impressive jump-rope number “Whipped Into Shape” for Act II’s opener.
But let’s be real. A huge part of this show’s charm stems from the look of the thing. The glitz, the glamour, the fashion—it’s terribly, wonderfully excessive, and it’s an intrinsic part of selling Elle and her world. And while TFT’s scenic designer Wendy Searcy-Woode created some lovely backdrops and set pieces (á la Roy Lichtenstein’s Pop art pieces), the costumes and props were distractingly amateurish. A tablecloth during a dinner scene had a ragged edge and a large black stain; fake magazines and Red Bull cans smacked of high school productions; and more than one actress in the Delta Nu chorus was wearing a “dress” she was seemingly holding together with her hands. While we all know theaters do their best with what they have, there was a lack of polish to the entire show which distracted from its many charms.
Although struggling with technical issues, The Firehouse Theatre’s Legally Blonde: The Musical pairs a talented cast with a fun, frothy musical. If the results aren’t always perfect, the audience still left with smiles on their faces. And one has to admire the ambitions of Firehouse’s 2021 roster of shows, aptly dubbed its “Dream Big” season. Let’s hope the next production is a dream more fully realized.
Running November 4th to November 21st
More info: https://www.thefirehousetheatre.com/
