LEGALLY BLONDE Scores with U.K. Critics

Last night, Wednesday 13 January 2010, Legally Blonde The Musical opened at the Savoy Theatre in London. SheriDan Smith, Duncan James, Jill Halfpenny, Peter Davison, Aoife Mulholland, Susan McFadden and Alex Gaumond lead the cast in Legally Blonde The Musical which is currently booking until 23 May 2010. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical has music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach, set design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller, sound design by Acme Sound Partners and orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke.

It seems the show has won the hearts of even the most doubting West End critics. Writes Charles Spencer in today's Daily Telegraph: "I tried, I really tried to hate this show, but resistance is futile." He went onto praise the production as "light, fast, fun and frothy."

Echoes The Independent's Paul Taylor, "[the musical is] ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish." For Taylor, the show was even an upgrade from the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, calling Heather Hach's lyrics "unflaggingly funny," and declaring Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin's score rich with "brassiness, bite, joie de vivre, sheer cheek, and even the odd strain of sadness."

The Times' Benedict Nightingale notes how the audienced "cheered, whistled and made my cavils seem precious" and ends his review with "Let's agree that Legally Blonde is, well, fun."

Indeed, it seems even the most unflattering criticism, from The Guardian's Michael Billington and The Daily Mail's Quentin Letts, is lukewarm.  While Billington deemed the show "preposterous," he recognized its merit -praising the choreography in particular - and prefers it to the movie version, while Letts admits that the lyrics were "almost worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan" and the show "easy to take."

In Legally Blonde, college sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods (SheriDan Smith) doesn't take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend Warner (Duncan James) dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

The full cast includes Emma Bateman (Stenographer), Dan Burton (Padamadan, Nikos), Darren Carnall (Kiki), Peter Davison (Professor Callahan), Chris Ellis-Stanton (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Alex Gaumond (Emmett Forrest), Jill Halfpenny (Paulette), Nadine Higgin (Judge, Saleswoman), Ibinabo Jack (Pilar), Duncan James (Warner Huntington III), Caroline Keiff (Vivienne Kensington), Amy Lennox (Margot), Andy Mace (Dad, Winthrop, Reporter), Susan McFadden (Serena), Sorelle Marsh (Courtney, Mom, Whitney), Suzie McAdam (Enid), Matthew McKenna (Aaron), Sean Mulligan (Pforzheimer), Aoife Mulholland (Brooke), Roxanne Palmer (Kate, Chutney), Sergio Priftis (Carlos), SheriDan Smith (Elle Woods), Tamara Wall (District Attorney) and Ed White (Lowell). They are joined by Jane McMurtrie, Sherrie Pennington, Lucy Miller, Fabian Aloise and Francis Haugen as swings.

In 2001 Amanda Brown's novel Legally Blonde was made into a film starring Reese Witherspoon, produced by MGM and directed by Robert Luketic.

Legally Blonde The Musical is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, Robert G. Bartner, Ambassador Theatre Group, Jamie Hendry Productions and Act Productions.

For tickets and information, call the box office at 0844 8717687 or visit www.legallyblondethemusical.co.uk.

 

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