Milton Keynes Theatre: Legally Blonde

Summary

Rating: ★★★★
Running Dates: Tuesday 10th March - Saturday 14th March
Where to see it: MK Theatre
Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes (incl. interval)

Photography by Marc Brenner

Review

You’ve all seen the film so spoiler alerts a necessity for this one. It’s exactly what you’d expect. Lots of Pink, a beautiful, rich Californian Barbie lookalike obsessed with clothes, a rich preppie arrogant boyfriend obsessed with himself; a very cute chihuahua (all say aaaah).  Elle Wood is expecting an engagement ring but boyfriend Warner breaks up with her instead. He declares that he has “political ambitions”and needs a more “serious partner”, so he dumps her and goes off to Harvard.

Elle decides to follow him to Harvard to win him back. Everyone laughs. How could she possibly get into Harvard? Of course, they have seriously underestimated her and she knuckles down to study, avoiding parties and frivolous fun. The real life cost of a Harvard Law Degree is approximately £275k in case you were thinking of following him too.

Elle, played iconically by Reese Weatherspoon in the movie, was played by Amber Davies in this rendition. She has a great voice, boundless energy and good comic timing – even if the jokes were a little corny. Her powerful stage presence stood strong in a very colourful, high energy ensemble cast.

Photography by Marc Brenner

Having been a smash hit musical on the West End and Broadway, this new UK and Ireland touring version of Legally Blonde has had reviewers across the country raving about the energetic “pink night out” that this show brings. It’s not surprising, given the co-producers are ROYO and Curve, who also collaborated on the ever-popular Kinky Boots. Much like their prior work, the songs were as catchy as they were upbeat: “Omigod You Guys” was my favourite.

The show takes us through Elle’s experience of Harvard, with extra pink clothes and her “outsider” status. With the iconic scene that features her friend, Paulette, at the Beauty Salon empowering her to fight back and prove her place. Paulette, by the way, steals every show she’s in. She’s played by the highly exuberant Karen Mavundukure.

Elle, of course, becomes the hero at the murder trial, gets Warner back but turns him down for slightly awkward Emmett, who moves the friend zone to boyfriend. To me, Warner was the only disappointing character in the show. He was a bit understated as the villain.

My final thoughts are with the dogs, Bruiser and Paulette’s dog Rufus. It’s a real skill to Using live dogs in a stage show, especially a noisy musical, is a true skill that they pulled off perfectly. I expect to see lots of Bruisers wandering around MK very soon.

The whole thing was a fun, colourful, upbeat, feel good evenings entertainment and very very PINK.