LET THIS SILLY BLONDE MUSICAL
ENTERTAIN YOU
Post-pandemic, as the world is seemingly opening up, local theater and the arts have not rebounded. Many venues are suffering or have gone out of business. In every local theater production I have seen in The Bay Area in 2024, as soon as the curtain goes down, cast members return to the stage and encourage their audiences to help their theater stay in business. Digital links are made available and the actors are standing in the lobby with open buckets.
So theater companies are choosing shows that have a more mainstream appeal to get butts in the seats. Those include jukebox musicals with familiar songs (Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys) and musicals based on movies that are embedded in pop culture (Hairspray, Beetlejuice, and Mrs. Doubtfire are but a few). Take a beloved movie and set it to music and in theory you have a built-in audience who know and love the original story. The audience comes in pretty much knowing what to expect. We know the hero, the villain, the zany side characters. One can sit back, relax, and not think for the next two hours until the inevitable happy ending. Often, the music is secondary to the story and the characters (Back to the Future). The shows themselves don’t necessarily have to be good or particularly memorable. The experience is now akin to comfort food as we watch fun and familiar characters acting out a beloved story.
This brings us to Legally Blond: The Musical. Of late, Ray of Light Theatre has been producing shows with a built-in audience, especially younger patrons. Kinky Boots, Cruel Intentions and most recently Everybody’s Talking About Jaime, have been successful at filling seats with fast-paced amazingly choreographed numbers, quality production values, and talented performers who never disappoint. Even The Rocky Horror Show, produced by Ray of Light before, is making a return appearance this season.
While we muse over the state of new musicals in America, and may wish for more originality, intelligence, and better songs, Legally Blonde: The Musical, now playing at San Francisco’s Victoria Theater, is the latest highly produced fun-filled musical to grace our city. The show is undiluted froth, and the laws of probability weigh very lightly on its storyline. Based on the very popular 2001 movie starring Reese Witherspoon, most viewers, I suspect, come in already rooting for Elle Woods, our heroine who’s been dumped by her boyfriend Warner. As much as the cad likes her and despite her 4.0 GPA, she’s not the kind to be taken seriously as a politician’s wife. The solution? To prove that she can be serious, this Barbie doll crams so she can join him at Harvard Law. But does she even know how? Bound and determined, Elle wants to prove to him that she is just as smart and capable.
Majesty Scott, who is as Black as she is blonde, doesn’t just channel Reese Witherspoon; Scott takes the role to a whole new flashy, sassy level. Her Elle doesn’t just know fashion: she’s secure and confident and doesn’t let anything or anyone get her down. Elle and her group of girlfriends sing and dance circles around anyone who gets in her way.
The young, attractive and inclusive 28-member ensemble give it their all in another hit for Ray of Light. And as with other outings here, the choreography by Jill Jacobs is worth the price of admission. While singing, the dancers swirl, twirl and do backbend and flips with seeming effortlessness. There’s not a weak link in the entire cast, with some actors playing multiple roles. Part of our fun is receiving the joy from performers who are giving it their all. A mom of one of the girls in the ensemble told me how much fun the whole group has had putting on the show.
The original production began here in San Francisco, then moved to Broadway in 2007, where it was met with mixed reviews and less-than-staggering tickets sales, despite seven Tony nominations. So why restage it? It ain’t the the next OklahomaI, but Heather Hach‘s book tightly follows the movie, and, while not particularly memorable, the songs by Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe have some above-board lyrics and catchy music. I think the reason it keeps getting revived is the show’s message of perseverance, individuality, and self-respect, which parallels so much of what viewers loved about Barbie last year. Last Saturday’s sold-out opening night had a crowd mostly made up of twenty-somethings, many wearing all pink, Elle Woods’ signature color. There were lots of shrieks and catcalls throughout the show even when Ms. Scott as Elle simply made an entrance.
Yet the songs are all feel-good and there are a lot of genuine laughs. Right from the broad opening number “Omigod You Guys” we’re sucked into Elle’s Malibu world and are ready for more. Little side plots like the love life of Elle’s hairdresser Paulette are delightful, as is Mikki Johnson herself in the big, bawdy role that has us rooting for her − especially in her pursuit of handsome Kyle (CJ Strickland), her UPS delivery man, culminating in the crowd-pleasing “Bend and Snap” routine. Roeen Nooran is charming and lovely-voiced as Emmett, the hardworking professor’s assistant who sees potential in Elle, despite efforts by tyrannical Professor Callahan (gleefully and villainously played by Nelson Callahan) to get our pink-bedazzled heroine to give up. Seth Hanson as Warner and Kaylee Miltersen as Vivienne scheming against Elle are appropriately smarmy in their efforts to succeed at all costs.
Matt Owens‘ mostly pink multi-level set allows the action, singing and dancing to appear on several levels at once creating a great visual sight. Directed by Phaedra Tillery-Boughton and ShawnJ West, has a live band that helps keep the energy high. Featuring Jad Bernardo on keys and conducting, the orchestra is Derek Brooker on guitar, David Kelly-Tuason on bass, Amanda Dee on keys, Justin Smith on trumpet, Rene Canto-Adams on reeds and John Doing on drums.
My plus-one for the evening, who rarely goes to the theater, loved the show just as he loved the movie. While I didn’t find any stand-out moments, I did like the show and enjoy the dancing. Also, having seen the movie and knowing the plot, I pretty much knew what I was in for. Now you do, too. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy a fun and familiar story.
photos by Jon Bauer
Legally Blond: The Musical
Ray of Light Theatre
Victoria Theatre (480 seats), 2961 16th Street (between Mission and Capp)
ends on September 29, 2024
for tickets ($20-$55 +online fee), visit ROLT