Reviews

Legally Blonde (Tour – Liverpool)

Editorial Staff

Bad hair day? It’ll soon brighten up with this show. Warner Huntingdon III (Neil Toon) splits up with bubbly Elle Woods to go straight (to Harvard), so what’s a girl to do? Being smart, in every sense, she follows suit, and learns a lot, while remaining true to herself.

Fans of The Paper Chase, and more recent courtroom soap operas, will recognise much of the plot, some of which is obvious and quite silly (not to mention confusing), but including some neat twists.

The staging is composed of largely sophisticated though cartoonish pieces and props (always odd seeing massive columns being hoisted aloft), and of course, an awful lot of pink, while the action is enlivened by first class dancing and singing. It’s a shame the latter is occasionally shrill to the point of drowning out the wonderfully witty lyrics, particularly with a refreshing attitude, aiming to put the feminine right up there alongside feminism.

And the stars shine: Faye Brookes twinkling away as Elle, helps transform earnest Emmett Forrest (Iwan Lewis), avoiding the black holes, ie the devious traps set by villains Professor Callahan (Dave Willetts) and Warner’s fiancée Vivienne (Charlotte Harwood).

In a cast of thousands, kind of, including stalwart support from Elle’s friends, room only to single out the wondrous eye candy: Jon Reynolds (Kiki) and Lewis Griffiths (Kyle), the latter’s appearance generating nearly as much rapture as the two lapdogs, almost. Best of all, Liz McClarnon, as Elle’s friend (and hairdresser), Paulette Buonufonté: acting; singing; dancing, plus a nicely honed sense of comic timing.

So do blondes have more fun? Everybody does – and no need to feel guilty with such a pleasurably entertaining production.

– Carole Baldock