Review: LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL is a joyful occasion at the Artscape

It's been a long-time coming for Pinelands Players and LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL - and it was worth the wait! This production is fun, vibrant, energetic and full of heart, and the team should be incredibly proud of the hard work they've put in.

The community theatre world was abuzz in 2019 when we heard that P2 would be putting on this show and I was personally gutted when the show had to be postponed - just like pretty much everything else in 2020. Hats off to P2 for keeping the faith and finally getting their show on stage at the Artscape.

The first thing you need to know is that there are two casts for the lead roles - the "legal" cast and the "blonde" cast. This review is for the "blonde" cast (keep an eye out on the website for the review of the "legal" cast).

I've never seen this musical before, but I know the movie inside and out, backwards and upside down too. It's an absolute favourite! So, I was a little nervous going to watch this - would a musical version give me the same joy? Happily, it did! I do have a few gripes about the musical script changing some of my favourite lines, but that's a personal thing.

Bryony Bosman as Elle Woods was gorgeous. She had a natural warmth and energy on stage that was echoed by all of the other characters. It's a big role to take on, with the entire production needing to be led by your energy and drive. At times, Bosman felt a little one-note (not her singing, her character) and there could be a bit more light and shade in the performance. However, on the whole, she was charming.

The rest of the cast came together with energy and great comedic timing. You could see that they were having fun up on stage and it carried out into the audience. Standouts for for me were Gizelle Willows as Brooke, Kim R2 as Enid and Lyle Wilson in his cameo as the pool boy.

The whole show is a spectacle - lots of moving parts and people, some pretty impressive pieces making up the set. Director Kyla Thorburn makes good use of the stage space - filling it up with people and places that are interesting and eye-catching. One down side though was that the revolve was quite noisy when it moved and that made some of the scene changes feel a little clunky. There were also a few times when the cast only had one wing or exit space while a scene change was taking place further up stage. This left the cast queuing to get off stage, and looking a little awkward.

Of course, you can't talk about a musical without talking about the music. The score for LEGALLY BLONDE is great! Fun, foot-stomping songs that will get stuck in your head even if you didn't know them before the show. I really loved how the comedy in many of the songs was brought to life. Bend and Snap is a brilliant song and a moment in the show you won't soon forget - it's a great moment in the movie that has been translated into stage musical langauge perfectly.

On the topic of the sound though - I was a little frustrated for the cast. There seemed to be a number of microphone glitches. We had plosives and crackles, and then some of them seemed to not be on or working, meaning the audience couldn't hear the lines. The cast pushed through though and you couldn't tell from their performances that they were being impacted by the issues.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL really is great fun to watch and the "blonde" cast impressed me. The best news is that the other cast has had rave reviews too, meaning it doesn't matter who you go see - just go and see it!

The show is on until 18 February and tickets are available via Webtickets.

Photo credit: Supplied.

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