The national tour of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” made a stop last weekend at South Bend’s Morris Performing Arts Center. Having been a fan of the musical since high school — it’s hard to shake off theater kid roots — I was able to score a ticket for the Sunday matinee.
The show is an underrated gem of contemporary musical theater, but is also notorious for its bad performances (see “Illegally Blonde” on YouTube, which rocketed the coveted role of “Sales Clerk #2” into legendary status). The plot is largely the same as the 2002 movie of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, whose long-term boyfriend Warner dumps her in pursuit of a more serious, lawyerly type at Harvard Law School. To win him back, Elle follows him to Harvard Law but finds academia more challenging than she first anticipated. Despite the movie and the musical being 22 and 16 years old, respectively, Elle Woods’s story is perennial, as she struggles with the other students at Harvard learning to take her seriously while maintaining her own integrity.
The musical, originally written in 2007, holds up in many ways, but it, unfortunately, has not aged well in others. The national tour cut many of the worst offenders, including an uncomfortable Jamaican accent during “What You Want” and one character derogatorily called a lesbian in “Blood in the Water.” That being said, “Legally Blonde” as a show is unapologetic and risqué, and I was glad to see the spirit of each line and joke maintained despite the cuts.
The musical originally takes place in the mid-2000s, including references to technology and pop culture phenomena which have, in the past several years, have fallen out of popular fashion. These have been updated for the 2023 national tour. The costumes were modernized and updated to reflect current fashion, especially the Delta Nu sorority sisters who wore outfits that I myself have seen at dorm parties on Friday nights. In wake of 2018’s “Me Too” movement, the signs in the parade at the end of the show featured messages about consent and the abuse of power. Every character had a phone in-hand consistently, and though not originally written into the show, phones were cleverly used at different points throughout the performance. The set, using screens alongside physical furniture, displayed both backdrops and digital complements to the action on stage, such as text messages and Instagram posts. Perhaps the most notable modern update to the musical was the change of Brooke Wyndham from Jane Fonda-esque workout tape star to TikTok fitness influencer, with the first part of “Whipped Into Shape” played in pre-recorded videos on the screens before transitioning to Brooke in prison (and sparing the actress about three minutes of onstage jump roping). These changes never felt cringey or out of place, and they in many ways aided and guided the action onstage.
The 2023 national tour was both a masterclass in how to modernize musical theater and a phenomenal experience. The entire cast was incredible, including the ensemble actors who more than once stole the show. Particular standouts from the cast include James Oblak as Warner, whose boy band-style vocals and incredible physical comedy during “Serious” made the audience laugh out-loud several times; Ashley Morton as Paulette, who portrayed the comedy of the character perfectly; and of course, Hannah Bonnett as Elle Woods, who provided a fresh take on Elle’s bubbly personality while also making her seem like a real person with believable motivations and decisions. “Legally Blonde” is a standing monument in 21st-century media and the recent national tour only proves that the story is more relevant than ever.
Title: “Legally Blonde”
Where: Morris Performing Arts Center
Starring: Hannah Bonnett, Aathaven Tharmarajah, James Oblak
Director: Jeffrey B. Moss
Shamrocks: 4.5 out of 5
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