Gareth Gates & Jennifer Ellison join Legally Blonde tour

Gates will play Warner and Ellison Paulette, alongside Faye Brooks who continues in the role of Elle and Iwan Lewis as Emmett.

Gareth Gates shot to fame in 2002 when he was voted runner-up in the UK’s first hit television series of Pop Idol. He has since gone on to sell 3.5 million records in the UK alone, releasing three albums and 4 UK number one singles.

More recently he has starred in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West End), Les Miserables (25th Anniversary tour and West End) and Loserville (West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Jennifer Ellison is best known for her roles in the TV soap opera Brookside and the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Her theatre credits include Roxie Hart in Chicago (West End and UK tour), Boeing Boeing (Comedy Theatre) and Calendar Girls. She was recently seen wowing judges and audiences alike on ITV’s hit show Dancing on Ice where she reached the semi-finals.

The musical comedy, which premiered on Broadway in April 2007, is based on the 2001 Hollywood film in which Reese Witherspoon played California sorority girl Elle Woods who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School in an attempt to win him back.

The screen-to-stage show transferred from Broadway and premiered in London with Sheridan Smith playing the role of college sweetheart Elle Woods. Smith went on to win the Whatsonstage.com and Olivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical.

The touring cast currently features Ray Quinn as Warner, Les Dennis as Professor Callahan and Niki Evans as Paulette. It’s currently at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury (until 16 June), and subsequently visits Southampton, Bradford, Oxford, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Birmingham, York, Manchester and Wimbledon.

An Australian tour kicks off in September, with further international dates to be announced.