With all the hype around this musical there was a slight chance that Legally Blonde was going to be an absolute bomb of a musical, given the recent attempts at trying to convert a successful movie to a Broadway style production… boy has Legally Blonde exceeded my expectations in more ways than one and can really be summed up simply as a damn fun production that will have you laughing the whole time!

Jerry Mitchell has a very established career on Broadway as a choreographer and director with credits including Full Monty, Love Never Dies and La Cage Aux Folles and worked with some of Hollywood’s greats including Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller so you can see why Legally Blonde stood such a good chance to succeed.

Loosely based around the film of the same name Legally Blonde works perfectly to musical numbers including “Omigod You Guys”, “Daughter of Delta Nu”, “Whipped Into Shape” and of course “Bend and Snap” and the hysterical “There! Right There!” a.k.a. “Is he gay or European?”

Elle Woods (Lucy Durack) has it all – style, endless money and a very attractive boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Rob Mills). Disaster happens when Warner breaks up with her to attend Harvard to study law. Determined not to lose her man, Elle decides she too should attend Harvard and convince Warner that they should be together forever.

What really makes this production so successful is the sharp choreography and the very humorous musical number created around Elle’s witty one liners. The dancing in “Whipped Into Shape” is very clever and you can see why Jerry Mitchell has such a successful career.

The music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin are very funny and you do spend a majority of the time laughing at the hijinx of Elle Wood and famed line “Bend and Snap” works so much better to music and dancing.

Lucy Durack as Elle Wood is perfect. She is comically over the top and a lot of fun to watch. David Harris is cheeky, sexy and a little dorky as Emmett Forrest. Rob Mills is surprisingly good as Warner Huntington III. But stand out was Erika Heynatz as Brooke Wyndham. She is funny, strong and engaging on stage. It was a total surprise to see such a strong performance and very much unexpected but greatly enjoyable.

So with all the hype and advertising is Legally Blonde really all it is cracked up to be? If you liked the movie you will LOVE the musical. It is funny, stylish and contains some amazing dance and musical numbers. It was a lot more clever than anticipated and delivered some very amusing one liners that made the entire audience laugh… including this old bitter queen!

Legally Blonde is currently playing at the Lyric Theatre at Star.

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