Legally Blonde on stage: ‘far wittier’ than the film
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is host to this ‘smart show about brains as well as beauty’
The Regent’s Park summer season has got off to a flying start with an “audacious” revival of Legally Blonde, said Clive Davis in The Times. “Go with an open mind and you’ll be blown away” – even if you’re not a fan of the 2001 movie.
For the uninitiated, Legally Blonde tells the tale of ditzy, pink-loving fashion-obsessed Elle Woods (played in the film by Reese Witherspoon), who wangles a place at Harvard Law School in an effort to win back her ambitious, intellectually snobbish ex-boyfriend Warner. She struggles with academia at first, then unveils a razor-sharp legal mind. The film was a hit, but this stage musical, which launched on Broadway in 2007, is “far wittier”, with “insidious melodies” and lyrics with the cheek to rhyme “snobs” with “Thomas Hobbes”.
For this production, director Lucy Moss – co-creator of the hugely successful pop musical Six – has brought the material “bang up to date” for the internet age (references to Instagram and the Kardashians abound) “without sacrificing its joie de vivre”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Legally Blonde is a “smart show about brains as well as beauty, and about the way they interact in society at large”, said Sarah Crompton on What’s on Stage. It is also funny and heartwarming. Moss has upped “the fun and the fizz”, and also revamped the show with unusually diverse casting. As Elle, Courtney Bowman – mixed-heritage and sporting blonde braids – is “about as far from the Mean Girls image” as you can get. She gives a “witty, beautifully sung performance of considerable authority”, and is matched by some fine supporting turns.
Bowman is brilliant, agreed Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph; she charts Elle’s “journey of self-discovery with nuance, shifting from initial hurt and bashfulness to indestructible resolve”. The big problem, though, is the dearth of memorable songs. “There’s only so much snappy, campy choreography – aping TikTok-style syncing – and more-wittering-than-witty numbers you can take before déjà-vu and déjà-entendu sets in.”
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London NW1. Until 2 July
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Changes are coming for 401(k)s and IRAs in 2025. Here's what to know.
The Explainer News about part-time workers, auto-enrollment and penalties for inherited IRAs
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversible
Speed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibition
The Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
By The Week UK Published
-
Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry
By The Week UK Published
-
Patriot: Alexei Navalny's memoir is as 'compelling as it is painful'
The Week Recommends The anti-corruption campaigner's harrowing book was published posthumously after his death in a remote Arctic prison
By The Week UK Published
-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: a 'magical' show with 'an electrifying emotional charge'
The Week Recommends The 'vivacious' Fitzgerald adaptation has a 'shimmering, soaring' score
By The Week UK Published
-
Bird: Andrea Arnold's 'strange, beguiling and quietly moving' drama
The Week Recommends Barry Keoghan stars in 'fearless' film combining social and magical realism
By The Week UK Published
-
Kate Summerscale's 6 favorite true crime books about real murder cases
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Helen Garner, Gwen Adshead, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 elegant homes in the Mediterranean style
Feature Featuring an award-winning mansion in Colorado and an Alhambra palace-inspired home in Washington
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Juror #2: Clint Eastwood's 'cleverly constructed' courtroom drama is 'rock solid'
The Week Recommends Nicholas Hoult stars in 'morally complex' film about a juror on a high-profile murder case
By The Week UK Published