‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ offers exciting, women-led performances this week

'Legally Blonde: The Musical' offers exciting, women-led performances this week

"Omigod you guys!" It's a pink-lovers dream at East Carolina University this week as "Legally Blonde: The Musical" opens on the McGinnis Auditorium stage.

The School of Theatre and Dance (SOTD) production offers shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 19-22 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23. Tickets are available for $10-$20, and all five shows are nearing sellout.

In addition, Thursday will be Sorority Night, and the house with the most tickets sold will get to pose for photos on the set with the show's cast. Backstage Coffee, which offers a regular menu item called the "Elle Woods," held a drawing this week for two tickets to the show.

Show director Bryan Conger, assistant director of the SOTD and associate professor of theatre, said over the last five years students have requested "Legally Blonde" as their top musical on the school's annual survey.

"It's a show featuring a lot of women, and I thought that was important," Conger said. "So many movie musicals are not interesting to me as a director; ('Legally Blonde') is interesting on its own without the film connection.

"If you love the film, you're going to love the stage production. And all the songs are bops."

'Looks Like Elle's Gonna Win the Prize'

The cast agreed. Musical theatre sophomore Amanda Scanlan, who plays Paulette, agreed with Conger about loving the stage show as much as the film, and said the writers made the musical their own.

"Every iconic scene you remember has an equally iconic musical number," she said. "If you're not singing 'Omigod You Guys' when you leave, then you weren't paying attention!"

Reneé Maher, a musical theatre sophomore who plays Elle Woods, seconded Scanlan's song choice, praising it as high-energy and catchy. Maher said she hasn't been in a sorority, but thinks the song captures that atomosphere.

"It immediately grabs your attention and sets the tone for the rest of the show: fun, fast-paced and full of personality," Maher said. "The song not only introduces Elle's world, but also immerses the audience in the upbeat, pink atmosphere that 'Legally Blonde' is known for."

Musical theatre junior Bode Kicklighter plays Emmett and said he thinks everyone will sing "So Much Better" as they leave the theater, another upbeat bop that ends the show's first act. Kicklighter said his favorite part of the show is its joy and its positive message of being true to oneself.

"It's the same story you know, but I like to think it's the version that Elle Woods sees in her head," he said. "It's bursting with energy and there are some fantastical elements that can only happen in a musical."

'Thanks for the Great Tip on the Costume Party'

Both versions of the story include fun costumes, and a lot of them. "Legally Blonde" features 28 actors and eight understudies, the largest cast Conger has directed.

In the costume shop, entertainment design and production assistant professor Delta Childers-Smith said this number of cast members require many costumes and, more specifically, looks.

"Elle herself has 12 different costumes - and it's whole looks," she said. "Elle might be the most I've ever designed for one character. For a musical, for the ensemble there would typically be two to four looks."

Junior Abby Haynes, the assistant designer, said she likes the pep squad look for the ensemble during a five-minute number because of both the style and the color.

"I think the dresses we were able to find flatter a lot of the ensemble," she said. "And I also like blue, in a world full of pink."

Another look in the show is a prison uniform for musical theatre senior Hannah Watters' Brooke Wyndham and the ensemble. To get the right fit for the highly physical "Whipped into Shape" jump roping number, Childers-Smith and her team removed the pockets from medical scrubs they found in an orange color that will remind audiences of prison uniforms, but in a brighter shade that fits the "Legally Blonde" atomosphere.

'What, Like it's Hard?'

Watters said she's pulling inspiration from 1980s aerobics instructors for her dream role of Brooke and, similar to other cast members, said she has spent time running and jumping while singing to prepare for the physicality of the show.

"It's a beast of a show, and if you're not careful, you can run out of steam quickly," she said. "Despite this, it's so easy to fall in love with this show, and I've had the best time with this cast navigating it."

Kicklighter agreed that a challenging part of the show is keeping up with its fast pace and maintaining the required focus.

"The show moves fast and is very high energy from beginning to end," he said.

Maher and Scanlon also took advantage of preparatory jazz and conditioning classes this summer offered by choreographer and SOTD teaching associate professor Tommi Galaska.

"I went to as many of them as I could and that was extremely helpful," said Maher, who is onstage for the entire show outside of costume changes. "The show is truly a marathon and that is how our cast has been training for it."

'We're Taking the Dog!'

While the show offers several firsts for ECU and the SOTD, perhaps most notable is the casting of trained rescue dogs Little Ricky and Myrtle, playing Bruiser and Rufus, respectively. The pups come from Berloni Theatrical Animals, which has trained animals for decades for film, TV and theatre.

"Fake dogs seemed silly," Conger said of the discussion about how to represent the story's iconic dogs. "Having no dog and talking to and about them seemed weird. It's a great opportunity for our students; this really is a special thing, and it's nice to have another professional actor on campus for our students to learn from."

That professional is Lara Hayhurst, who brought the dogs to campus as their handler. Hayhurst, Ricky and Myrtle all have appeared in "Legally Blonde" multiple times over the years; in fact, Hayhurst was Ricky's first Elle Woods after Berloni adopted him in 2018. Myrtle also played Richard Burton, Charlotte's dog in the show "And Just Like That." The vast experience helped all three jump right in last week as they started bonding and working with ECU's cast.

"Coming to work with college students is one of my favorite things; it's always the most rewarding," Hayhurst said. "They're ready to launch themselves out in the world and become the next generation of artists. It's fun to give them the gift of play and hanging with dogs, and that there are so many other facets to this industry.

"It takes a lot of puzzle pieces to build a long and lasting career in this industry; I'm an actor and I do this, too."

Maher said she hasn't worked with a dog in a show, but has experience with her own four dogs at home in Virginia. She's familiar with Ricky and Myrtle, after seeing her best friend in a production of "Legally Blonde" that also featured the two canine talents.

"These are THE dogs you hire if you're doing the show," Maher said. "I love dogs; I am so excited to work with them. They know the show so well, when the bows music starts, they whine because they know they're supposed to be onstage."

Ricky and Myrtle do know many of the cues, evident just three days after arriving as they worked with the ECU cast. Myrtle wiggled in Hayhurst's arms as Scanlan's Paulette performed a line before Rufus runs to her. Ricky barked nearly perfectly in conversation with Elana Lapetina's Margot, practicing Bruiser's big entrance near the top of the show.

Cast members hope audiences enjoy "Legally Blonde's" energy, the songs that give back story to some of the familiar characters, the positive ending and message, and the comedy.

Said Scanlan, "Just be open to this new, creative interpretation and you'll have a blast."

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