Assumptions tumble in new musical romp
Appearances can be deceptive - that’s the gist of Legally Blonde, the uproariously funny songand-dance production by Musikmakers, soon to open at the Riverlea Theatre.
Based on a successful 2001 movie of the same name, the stage show debuted in the US in 2007 and won Best New Musical after it’s opening in London’s West End in 2010.
The story centres on Elle Wood, played for Musikmakers by Maddie Hughes, a classconscious, ladder-climbing vixen, who pursues her former boyfriend, the Governor’s son, to Harvard Law School, in an attempt to win him back.
Musikmakers’ Legally Blonde is directed by Mel Martin and its highlights include the non-human factor, border collie, ‘Rufus’ and toy Poodle, ‘Bruiser’ - directing people is one thing, pets is another, Martin said.
‘‘They are meant to give Elle an air of establishment and entitlement which misleads the audience as she turns out to be not what they might expect.
‘‘They say animals and children the two most difficult things to work with, we’d want Rufus or Bruiser to start at a certain point. But they’d have other ideas, so we’d just start there.’’
The production has a nine- piece on-stage orchestra and one of the biggest challenges has been fitting-out the cast - a job undertaken by costume-maker Joy Wright and a dozen helpers.
‘‘As the show is nearly new in New Zealand, we couldn’t get costumes from anywhere so we had to make them. There were no short cuts,’’ Wright said.
Among the cast will be Kelly Petersen and Emelia Jennings.
Petersen plays two roles in Legally Blonde. In 2015 she performed in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and was chosen by the Shakespeare Globe Centre of New Zealand to learn and perform at the replica of Shakespeare’s theatre in London.
Jennings has been a dance student with Hamilton’s Valerie Lissette School of Dance for 14 years. She was a child extra in the Russian Imperial Ballet’s 2008 New Zealand tour and performed in Musikmakers production of Beauty and the Beast in 2016.
Musikmakers’ Legally Blonde, Riverlea Theatre, 83 Riverlea Rd, from May 20 to June 3. Bookings, iticket.co.nz or call the theatre, 0800 800 192, enquiries@riverlea.org.nz.