Elle Woods is perky, peppy, preppy and pretty , a princess in pink, but she is also perplexed and perturbed when her boyfriend Warner Huntington III unceremoniously dumps her for someone who is precocious and more perfect. Once she understands she has been intellectually insulted, Elle decides to cash in on her preciousness and apply to Harvard Law School for admission,to follow her love and win him back, as part of the class of 2005. What results is the delightful “Legally Blonde The Musical” lighting up the stage of the Jorgensen Center for the Arts in Storrs on the campus of the University of Connecticut until Sunday, May 4. The Connecticut Repertory Theatre is literally on fire with this pinkaliocious gem.
Elle, a bouncy and ebullient Courtney Hammond, with her little pup Bruiser, a chihuahua, a puppet pooch created by puppet designer Carianne Hoff, at her side, doesn’t doubt for a nanosecond that she will gain admittance to the sacred ivy shrouded walls of Harvard. She rises to the academic challenge admirably, following her snobby jerk of an ex-boyfriend (Will Graziano) right to the entrance halls. He believes because she is blonde and beautiful, interested in fashion and being properly accessorized, that she is no more than party fluff.
Along the way to graduation and a degree in law, Elle acquires the help of a self-esteem coach in the body of a wise manicurist Paulette
( Nicole Lewis), a sincere and really nice guy Emmett (Colby Lewis) as a new love interest, a Professor of Law (David Adkins) and a client Brooke (Khetanya Henderson) to defend, a famous fitness personality who is accused of murdering her much older husband.
Pink, Elle’s signature color, is bountifully evident in her dress, shoes, purse, make-up, resume and computer. She proves her legal smarts, that she is not a Malibu Barbie but, rather, a Brainiac Barbie, a fact which even Warner’s new girlfriend Viv (Whitney Andrews) admits. “Legally Blonde” has a book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and direction and choreography by Gerry McIntyre.
For tickets ($7-37), call the Jorgensen, at 860-486-2113 or online at www.crt.uconn.edu. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The Nutmeg Summer Series has just been announced: "A Chorus Line" from June 5-14, "The Sunshine Boys" from June 19-29 and "Gypsy" from July 10 to 20. Now is the time to lock in your subscriptions for all three.
Watch Elle help the underdog with her brilliant and fashionable plan of legal defense, do some fancy footwork with a jump rope, try Irish step dancing and prove she is way more than Warner’s Pooh Bear. Along the way she banishes stereotypes, inspires women to rise to empowerment and discovers true love! Just to see Bruiser the chihuahua and Rufus the bulldog race across the stage is worth the price of admission.
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