LEGALLY BLONDE
Stoke Repertory Theatre
OH My God, you guys, I’m tired just watching – the energy from every single member of this company was fantastic!
Stoke Youth Musical Theatre Company have something of a name for producing high quality theatre, and I’m glad to say that their performance of Legally Blonde does not disappoint.
Legally Blonde is the musical of the 2001 comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, and, well, it’s a fairly typical story of boy meets girl, boy dumps girl, girl decides to better herself to win boy, but then – unlike Grease, decides she doesn’t want boy any more – so karma I guess.
It’s worth noting that this is one of the hardest musicals to perform well – it’s musically challenging, and hard to get it all to run smoothly. But James Dawe’s direction kept the story coming slickly, and despite having to work with two (adorable) dogs all ran very well. All the jokes landed nicely, and the characterisations were excellent.
Grace Cooper’s choreography drives plenty of energy into the performance! The company numbers had tons of in-your-face presence, and I really enjoyed them. The Delta Nu’s – performing that familiar ‘Ronette’ type role – were wonderfully sassy, but
every single member of the chorus was together, slick and well rehearsed.
Musically, Legally Blonde is one of the hardest shows I know, but the principals made it sound easy. Musical director, Jo Smith, has clearly worked long and hard, and the company all gave a strong and confident performance. Kudos must be given to the cast for singing to tracks rather than a live band. You really are at the mercy of the track, but I suspect most of the audience wouldn’t have known.
What small timing errors I was able to spot were ably covered by the cast.
The sound engineers did a good job of mixing the voices with the track, and I could hear every word. Without a band you lose something in the energy, and I imagine it wasn’t an easy choice for Stoke Youth to make, but in these modern times it’s understandable, and I think they made it work.
Poppy Moore was a wonderful Elle, bringing both sides of this character to the stage, equalled in my opinion only by a glorious Callahan, played to perfection by Tristan Hood. In supporting roles Harvey Rowland gave a sensitive performance as Emmett, and Max Hills was everything you expect from Warner – tall, handsome… shallow! Strong performances from all.
I have to call out Jess Lello, who played Paulette. It’s easy to make this character too over the top somehow but Paulette played it perfectly and I very much enjoyed her performance, along with the audience who gave her a well deserved round of applause.
I had a really good night out watching this show, and I strongly recommend anyone who enjoys contemporary musical theatre not to miss it. Stoke Youth Musical Theatre Company are showing Legally Blonde this week until Saturday at Stoke Rep. For tickets go to https://www.ticketsource. co.uk/stokeyouth