Following the story of Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a pink-loving sorority girl turned Harvard-bound lawyer in order to impress her ex-boyfriend, the 2001 hit film Legally Blonde has cemented itself as an early-aughts icon, joining the ranks of movies like Clueless and Mean Girls as the definition of teen-movie perfection. Robinson’s Rambunctious Theatre Company is looking to channel their inner Elle with their spring performance of Legally Blonde: The Musical, taking on their most ambitious project yet.
With the cast slated to begin performances in late April and early May, according to Junior Ethan Desa, who plays Aaron Schultz (a “snobby” Harvard Law school student), “[Legally Blonde is] definitely a show [where] you have to have very specific abilities to be able to pull it off, so we have to work really hard to make sure our acting is on point, our singing [and] our harmonies are on point, and our choreo.”
The show presents a number of technical challenges, due to the musical’s fast-paced structure and involved musical numbers– Junior Gianna Pacheco, who plays Gaelen, one of Elle’s Delta Nu sorority sisters, mentioned that “there’s a song called ‘Whipped Into Shape’… it’s jump rope choreo, and it’s definitely one of the most fun numbers that we get to perform, and it’s high energy, like an early-2000s workout video–but it’s also very physically taxing and is difficult to execute.”
To add to the cast and crew’s difficulties with the show, Production Manager,Sydney Jodoin mentioned that rehearsal times for Legally Blonde had been cut: “We usually have a three month rehearsal process, but it was shortened down to two months because of the middle school show.”
However, despite the difficulties the show presents, moving forward with the show has been fun for the cast and crew. Desa mentioned that “there’s so many explosive numbers in the show… there’s no song that falters.” He specifically shouted out the opening number, “Omigod You Guys”, for its funny moments with Elle’s Delta Nu sorority girls, and the ending number of act one, “So Much Better”, for Elle’s–played by Senior Ella Brown’s “huge belt [that] fills the auditorium. That part of the number is just super high energy.” For Jodoin, who works behind the scenes as a Production Manager with props/set pieces, and overall is responsible for managing the technical theatre aspects of the show, her favorite part has been “seeing the actors move towards completing the show. Watching them learn the choreography and the singing and then putting it together…has been really fun.”
Overall, the cast and crew are “really excited for people to see the talent in the show.” Jodoin specifically cited the cast as being “so incredibly talented, and this is, I think, a really good show for [seniors] to go out of their high school career with,” Desa echoed this, saying that “Anyone reading this, it’s really good- the show itself is really good, and with our cast of characters, we’re able to enhance the show’s vitality and how the energy is carried across on stage.”If you’re interested in supporting student theatre and the incredible cast and crew of Legally Blonde, you can find tickets for any one of the shows on Etix.com. As said by Pacheco: “Come see Legally Blonde April 24th through May 2nd! it’s gonna be a fun time, I promise.”
