‘Oh My God, Oh My God you Guys!…” Legally Blonde, The Curve Theatre, Leicester 30.04.2016

Now following ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ Jon had already announced his newest gig, and again it was a road trip with Hayleigh to attend, but knowing that he would be perfect for this role I was not going to miss out on a chance to see him perform one of my favourite male characters in a musical.

I had booked tickets a month in advance but it came round quickly to us returning to the M25 but on a shorter road trip up to Leicester on a bank holiday weekend (never again traffic was terrible!) and with the football on also it was quite busy in the city centre, we arrived in good time to check in to our hotel for the night, freshen up and after a lovely quick bite to eat at Frankie and Bennys we were off to a brand new theatre for both of us.
The Curve Theatre is a regular for the touring companies, and also for shows that are previewing prior to going on to tour or for some the West End (for instance Show Boat was performed here prior to it now opening on West End at the New London Theatre) I believe it holds two stages in the building, and Legally Blonde was on the main stage tonight and running for a limited time of 11th April – 14th May.  We took our seats in Row B seats 11 and 12 in the stalls, but from looking around the theatre I could see that the seating was good at any angle so you wouldn’t be disappointed and even at a price of £38. The stage was open on our arrival with bright neon pink blaring into the audience and I was excited to see one of my favourite musicals again, having seen Sheridan Smith perform during previews at the Savoy Theatre, London, and the Tour which starred Ray Quin and Les Dennis. I was excited to see what they had in store as reading the reviews I had heard they have made some changes.

Legally Blonde the Musical is based on the Hit film of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon of a blonde haired girl named Elle who lives in Malibu who is the President of the Delta Nu Sorority, and in love with her boyfriend Warner Huntington III very much so that when he breaks up with her at an expected proposal by all, follows him to Harvard Law School to win him back and prove to him that she is ‘serious’. Sounds crazy right but it is such a feel good story, and one loved by many, so I wont go into full detail of the synopsis cause if you haven’t seen it, where have you been?

Now from the photo you can see the neon lights glowing, and from the start of the overture they are raised above and overlooking the stage, you get a glimpse of the orchestra and then it is on to the show, and amazingly throughout there was limiting staging, with just a dressing room revolver for the quick changes in ‘Omg you guys’ and ‘take it like a man’, door frames to reflect the going in an out of different rooms, a Bed for Elles dorm and desk, a H and benches for when they were at Harvard, and a judges post and table when they were in the court room otherwise it was the cast that created the scene and allowed you to focus on the show then the surroundings. Although the Salon for Paulette’s scenes were the busiest equipped with an entrance, front desk, pedicure table, and hair dryers. It was weird to see as in the previous productions, but it worked.

Also there were many changes to the script with missing parts of some scenes and cutting down of numbers, it did make it confusion for someone who knows the show from back to front, and when I found they cut one of the best numbers ‘Gay or European’ Shorter I was surprised they did so, also they cut the return or Elle’s mum and Dad in ‘Legally Blonde Remix’ it was clear for those who had seen the show before, but to someone new you wouldn’t have thought it, it may be due to the small number of cast members that put those restrictions in place, but either way it was different take to the show that claimed it as their own.

The Cast tonight were as follows:

Elle – Lucie Jones

Warner – Danny Mac

Emmett – Jon Robyns

Vivienne -Phoebe Street

Paulette – Tupele Dorgu

Professor Calahan – Ian Kelsey

Margot – Francesca Hoffman

Pilar – Genesis Lynea

Serena – Sophie Camble (Understudy)

Brooke – Natalie Hope

Kate/Chutney Wyndam – Rebecca Jayne Davies

Enid Hoopes – Natalie Woods

Kyle B O’Boyle – Lawrence Robb

Ensemble (Elles Mom, Elles dad, Carlos, Nikos, Judge etc) – Rachel Stanley, Martin McCarthy, Jack Harrison Cooper, Darren Bennett, Jamal Andreas

Now for a production of Legally blonde this is quite a small cast, as normally it is full of at least 10 Delta Nu’s including the 3 main ladies and Elle, but this time the cast doubled up in many roles to fill the stage, and although at times it worked other times you were wanting a little bit more.

First shout out goes to the ensemble and especially Rachel Stanley, Jamal Andreas, and Darren Bennett who showed great transitions in each of their roles throughout, and completely different from the next, it was lovely to see them put so much in their roles and you can tell they were enjoying themselves in each one.

Natalie Woods also part of the ensemble in some scenes but her main role as Enid was also very sweet, and we realised during the interval that we had seen her in Gypsy at the Savoy only last August she was one of Louise’s back up bomb blondes! I particularly liked her salon Role, but Enid was the powerful peace core power mad female led character as she should be.

On the night we had a piece of paper in our programmes to say that we had an understudy performing the role of Serena, who was not part of the programme. This can be rare in smaller productions as it seems that many of the cast do not have an understudy, as they do not state it in the programme either. it also means that they do not always know the role, and throughout the show you could see signs that she wasn’t clear of the full role as there was only 2 of the Delta Nu’s Pilar, and Margot in the number ‘Positive’ and Kate stepping in to sing some of the lines, it didn’t feel right but still the cast pulled through and Sophie performed well under the pressure that she must have been on, so snaps to her completely. Francesca, and Genesis, Margot and Pilar did well in their role, however I wasn’t wowed by there performance, with some scenes quite wooden. I thought they they could have done a lot more with the Delta Nu’s and the only Delta I really enjoyed watching was Kate performed by Rebecca. Natalie Hope who performs as a Delta in the first acts transforms to college prep in Act 1 to work out goddess Brooke in Act 2, she was strong in her role, and I loved her Whipped into shape number, that is challenging to all participating in, if only I was that good at skip rope maybe I might have buns of steel!

The principles of the night were all strong! It was hard to fault them, Ian Kelsy having seen him last September in ‘Shawshank Redemption’ I was looking forward to seeing him in a completely different role, and Callahan is exactly that, he was defiantly better than Les Dennis, and was well suited for the part, it was also great to hear him sing, that confirms he is an all rounder minus the dancing. Tupele who played the role of Paulette I will admit was my favourite Paulette I have ever seen in the show, she was so suited for the part and had the comic timing of the role perfect, and rendition of Ireland also a personal fave of the night, I was absolutely gutted that she ran off at the stage door as I would loved to have spoken to her, but I did get a tweet back later in the evening.

Pheobe Street also another personal favourite in the the role of Vivienne, and I was happy to see that she was able to perform with her own hair as opposed to the past wig which did look very tacky. I loved her bitchiness at the beginning, but then the softness that comes at the end when she realises the truth. Her voice and the notes she could hit are know are quite challenging but she took it in her stride. Warner was being played by Danny Mac most known for his role as Dodger in Hollyoaks, who I was most intrigued to see as again he had started his career on the West End and Theatre performing as the understudy for Boq in musical Wicked. Again he was my favourite Warner that I had seen, beating Ray Quinn, and Duncan James by a landslide, his rendition of ‘Serious’ was warming and strong, and he was perfect for the heart throb boyfriend that got all the guys signing, his acting as well was spot on and you could tell that he started off in theatre as opposed to a tv star to stage normal wooden performance, it all felt natural to him in each scene, and I’m so glad that I saw him perform again even if I didn’t realise at the time when I saw Wicked the first time that he was in it. We were lucky to spot him when coming out of the venue and a quick chat, photo and autograph I was thankful I got to see him,

Now onto Emmett, I have always said when listening to the soundtrack how perfect Jon’s voice would suit the songs that Emmett sing, and boy I wasn’t wrong, and I’m sure that Jon can relate to the part as the working hard for a living young lad who will stop at nothing to buy his mum the house by the lake, the sweet young character who wins the hearts of all and loved by the support he brings to Elle throughout the show that you cheer when they finally hook up (oops Spoiler Alert sorry!) Not only did Jon’s voice suit the role but his acting was also perfect and had the audience laughing as well. I was so glad I got to see him perfrom this part and we were lucky to see him at the stage door, along with his Jemima’s and Jeremy’s from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Tour, they were all very sweet and you could see how much they loved Jon. I was thankful that he took some time to have a chat with me and as always a autograph and photo.

I will be honest in saying that I wasn’t expecting to like Lucie Jone’s performance and this may be due to a review (which I normally stay clear of) I had read prior to seeing it, stating that although her voice is amazing her comic timing for the role wasn’t as perfected as Sheridan Smith when she performed as Elle in the West End. Well having seeing Lucie I need to ask did the reviewer actually watch Lucie perform, as again I felt that she made the role her own, and her comic timing in my opinion was reflected in her own ways and it got the belly laughs that Elle should get in the show. But the reviewer was right about her voice that’s for sure, and each song was spot on, however I’m not sure if I like the change in ‘So Much Better’ which took a while to get into the full swing keeping it slow until after the verse when she got pinched when usually its as soon as she see’s her name on the list. Again I loved watching her perform and luckily Jon stopped her for us at the stage door and she very kindly helped us take a selfie taking a few photos which I was thankful for.

its sad that this show is on a limited run, and that it is so far away from me, as I would happily go again, and again if I had the chance. I have heard that it is going oversea’s once it leaves the Curve on the 14th May so I wish them all the best, but again gutted I won’t get to see it myself or that it isn’t transferring to the west end at least. If you got the chance to see this production then you can understand the enjoyment it brought me and it was worth the 2 1/2 hour travel.

However next time Jon is in a role I hope it may be closer to home, not to say I am not enjoying my road trips but he is great on the west end. However if a new production that takes my fancy shows up at the curve I wouldn’t not consider it as it was a lovely theatre.