A Sneak Peek at LEGALLY BLONDE, Playing NC Theatre This Week

North Carolina Theatre's Legally Blonde opens this week at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium of the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.  Over the weekend, I had the chance to peek behind the scenes and into dress rehearsal to give you a taste of what's to come.

Legally Blonde is a musical comedy based on the movie of the same name.  The movie, which stars Reese Witherspoon, and the musical follow essentially the same storyline of Elle Woods, a very blonde sorority girl from Malibu who follows the man who dumped her all the way to the hallowed halls of Harvard Law School.  Although the characters and plot remain largely the same, there are some differences.  The musical's comedy is very fast-paced and saucy, and absolutely uses the musical format to its advantage in the comedy.  The sorority girls from California play a larger role in the stage adaptation, as they form a sort of Greek chorus which lives in Elle's head and follows her around Harvard Law School.

The cast at NC Theatre features everyone from teenagers to pageant winners.  The lead, Elle Woods, is played by Autumn Hurlbert, who was the first runner-up in the MTV show Legally Blonde: The Search for the Next Elle Woods, and went on to be a member of the Broadway company.  She's not the only cast member with Broadway experience.  Kathy Fitzgerald, who plays Paulette, was recently in Wicked on Broadway.  Also, Bruiser the dog is played by Chico, who played the role in the Broadway production of the show.

Legally Blonde is a pink-tastic, upbeat, smartly-written musical that is sure to be a hit with audiences.  The show opens October 9^th and runs through October 14^th.  For tickets and more information, visit www.nctheatre.com.