Legally Blonde The Musical

Some musicals show their age, but Legally Blonde is a production which has become more topical since it debuted not less. The central character is Elle – a blonde, pink loving, Chihuahua carrying shopaholic who gives the outward impression of being on the shallow side. She turns the tables on the snooty law school at Harvard University – and her ex-boyfriend - by displaying street smarts.

On the way, a male lecturer Callahan (in the style of Harvey Weinstein) attempts to exploit the power he has over the vulnerable student, but is powerfully rebuffed. It’s almost as if the parable was written by the Me Too movement. 

Packemin Productions piled plenty of pink on the Parramatta platform (pardon the puns). Members of the audience also came dressed for the part.  A well drilled and enthusiastic chorus was the backbone of this lively and colourful production, with lots of cute dancing. 

Their discipline was upstaged momentarily by top flight performances from their two four legged colleagues. The Chihuahua and Bulldog pets (Bruiser and Rufus) did not put a paw wrong. It seems every time I have seen a dog on stage at the Riverside he or she has misbehaved. 

What was the treat which kept these pooches running in the right direction so perfectly? It should be sent to every community theatre company in Australia staging Annie or the Wizard of Oz.

Mikayla Williams, as Elle, is now a Packemin leading lady fixture – trading the green paint of Shrek in the last production for a more glamorous attire this time round. She was poised and professional. Rodney Dobson as Callahan had suitable gravitas as the law lecturer.

The male leads Emmett (Kyle Sapsford) and Warner (Joshua Keane) also looked the part, but these characters are always put into the shade when the smoking hot UPS man swoons onto the stage.

The production sweeps from a restaurant to a campus, to a classroom to a dorm.  A clever set (built in regional Orange) which dropped down and rolled off the stage swiftly kept the action moving swiftly.

This was a tight and slick production.

David Spicer

Photographer: Grant Leslie.

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