BEND, SNAP, AND
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Berkeley Playhouse gives Elle Woods plenty of
energy, heart, and high-octane dancing in a buoyant
musical about refusing to be underestimated

Ayani Dorsey and Jai Kaushik as Elle Woods and Emmett with the company of LEGALLY BLONDE

Berkeley Playhouse opens its 2026–27 season with Legally Blonde: The Musical, the stage adaptation of the popular 2001 movie starring Reese Witherspoon. With music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach, the 2007 musical is directed by No’eau Kahalekulu, a former Berkeley Playhouse TeenStage student making her MainStage directorial debut.

The story wastes little time getting started. Sorority president Elle Woods (Ayani Dorsey) expects her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III (Milo Boland), to propose. Instead, he dumps her before heading off to Harvard Law School, convinced that he needs a more “serious” woman if he is going to have the prestigious career his family has planned for him. Determined to win Warner back, Elle studies for the LSAT, gets herself into Harvard, and follows him east. Once there, she discovers that Warner has a new girlfriend, Vivienne Kensington (Grace Margaret Craig), and that neither he nor her new classmates take Elle very seriously.

Ayani Dorsey

Dorsey, a Black actor taking on a character indelibly associated with Witherspoon, doesn’t try to imitate her. Instead, she makes Elle flashy, funny, self-assured, and very much her own. Dorsey has the energy to carry a show that barely stops moving, while her casting gives another dimension to a story about a woman repeatedly underestimated by the people around her. Elle may know fashion, but she also knows herself well enough not to let anyone else decide what she is capable of.

That confidence is matched by a young and energetic company that gives the production everything it has. Cat Delos Santos Reyes’s choreography is one of the highlights of the evening, filling the stage with energetic dance combinations, cartwheels, backflips, and large ensemble numbers. The cast members don’t just sing and act; many of them are impressive dancers as well.

Ayani Dorsey as Elle Woods with the company

Boland and Craig make an appropriately smug pair as Warner and Vivienne, whose ambition and Ivy League self-assurance contrast nicely with Elle’s pink-clad exuberance. Elizabeth Curtis provides plenty of comic relief as Paulette, Elle’s lovelorn hairdresser and friend, while Jai Kaushik is especially appealing as Emmett Forrest, the teaching assistant who sees Elle’s potential before she does. Kaushik gives Emmett an understated warmth that makes him an effective counterbalance to Dorsey’s larger-than-life Elle. As their friendship develops, Emmett helps Elle find her footing at Harvard, while she returns the favor by helping him discover a little style and confidence of his own.

Kahalekulu keeps the production moving at a fast pace, with Sarah Phykitt’s scenic design providing a flexible backdrop for the story’s quick changes of location. Ashley Renee’s colorful costumes and Sophia Craven’s lighting add to the bright, heightened world of the musical, while Joshua Price’s sound design keeps the large ensemble and band balanced.

The company of Berkeley Playhouse’s LEGALLY BLONDE performs “What You Want.”

Another bonus of Berkeley Playhouse productions is the live music. Music director Camden Daly conducts from the keyboard, leading a band that may be almost completely hidden below the stage but is an essential part of the show’s infectious energy.

What makes Legally Blonde work, however, is that beneath all the pink, dancing, and broad comedy is a simple story about being underestimated. Elle goes to Harvard believing she needs to prove herself worthy of Warner, only to discover that she doesn’t need Warner’s approval at all. She is smarter and more capable than nearly everyone around her assumes.

Heather Mae Steffen as Brooke Wyndham (center) with the company of LEGALLY BLONDE in “Whipped Into Shape.”

For a first MainStage directing assignment, Kahalekulu handles the behemoth cast and a busy musical with confidence. But the evening belongs to Dorsey, whose energetic performance keeps Elle at the center of all the activity without losing the character’s warmth. Berkeley Playhouse’s Legally Blonde is bright, funny, and exuberant, but its best lesson is also its simplest: Elle doesn’t succeed by becoming someone else. She succeeds by realizing that she was never the problem in the first place.

Grace Margaret Craig as Vivienne, Ayani Dorsey as Elle Woods, Heather Mae Steffen as Brooke Wyndham, and Robert Lopez as Professor Callahan

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Thomas Campitelli / Berkeley Playhouse

Legally Blonde: The Musical
Berkeley Playhouse
Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. in Berkeley
Fri–Sat at 7; Sun at 2
approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, including intermission
ends on October 18, 2026
for tickets ($22.95–$49.95), call 510.845.8542 x351 or visit Berkeley Playhouse

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦