NYT Review: Legally Blonde

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Mr Brantley reviews Legally Blonde --

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/theater/reviews/30blon.html

April 30, 2007
THEATER REVIEW | 'LEGALLY BLONDE'

Candy Worship in the Temple of the Prom Queen
By BEN BRANTLEY

Flossing between songs is recommended for anyone who attends “Legally Blonde,” the nonstop sugar rush of a show that opened last night at the Palace Theater, joining the ranks of such nearby temples to candy worship as the M&M and Hershey’s theme stores.

This high-energy, empty-calories and expensive-looking hymn to the glories of girlishness, based on the 2001 film of the same title, approximates the experience of eating a jumbo box of Gummi Bears in one sitting. This may be common fare for the show’s apparent target audience — female ’tweens and teenagers who still believe in Barbie. But unless you’re used to such a diet, you wind up feeling jittery, glazed and determined to swear off sweets for at least a month.

I say this as one who fell, though not hard, for the confectionary charms of the movie version of this story about Elle Woods, a frivolous California dream girl who finds the true gold beneath her goldenness by going to Harvard Law School. But the movie had one overwhelming advantage in its leading lady, Reese Witherspoon — or more specifically, Ms. Witherspoon’s square chin and everything it signifies: grit, smarts, a will to dominate and that soupçon of freakishness that separates a star-in-the-making from the professional beauties.

“Legally Blonde,” the musical, has Laura Bell Bundy, the kind of young woman who summons instant parental pride in the middle-aged. In addition to her prom-queen prettiness, she sings and dances flawlessly, and she delivers silly lines as if she meant them.

But she lacks the quirkiness and irresistible watch-me egotism that a big, heroine-worshiping musical needs at its center. Imagine “Hello, Dolly!” with Shirley Jones instead of Carol Channing, and you’ll get the idea.

This means that the weight of the show, directed with hyperkinetic effusiveness by Jerry Mitchell, shifts to its feel-good formula. And don’t underestimate the potency of that formula, which insists that a girl can be a powder puff and a power broker at the same time.

With its pink-dominated color scheme (in deluxe sets by David Rockwell and costumes by Gregg Barnes) and matching cherry-soda score of ballads of self-empowerment (by Lawrence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin), “Legally Blonde” is infused on every level with the message that it’s O.K. to be a princess. This is a show aimed at the girls who flocked to the fairy-tale blockbuster “Wicked,” but left feeling secretly disappointed that it was the dour, green-skinned Elphaba who got the guy, not the glittery, popular Glinda.

Among the brand-name musicals inspired by Hollywood hits on Broadway in recent years, “Legally Blonde” is better than most at replicating the essence of its model. (The theater division of MGM, which produced the film, is one of the producers here as well.) True, Heather Hatch’s book scales up, sometimes to the point of vulgarity, the cartoonishness of a work that was hardly subtle to begin with. And it further simplifies characters who were already caricatures.

But unlike such deadweight musicals as “Footloose,” “Saturday Night Fever” and “Lestat,” “Legally Blonde” never threatens to put you to sleep. On the contrary, its cast members emanate a wired, attention-fixing tirelessness that suggests they have all been subsisting on Red Bull (Elle’s favorite drink, given a jokey product-placement moment in the show).

This may be necessary, given the paces that Mr. Mitchell puts them through. Hitherto known as an exceptionally lively choreographer (“The Full Monty,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “Hairspray”), he makes his debut as a director here. It makes sense, then, that “Legally Blonde” should be a dance-driven show.

Mr. Mitchell borrows heavily (and appropriately) from music and exercise videos. Fleeting touches of choreographic wit — salty amid the prevailing sweetness — show up in quick, funny riffs on hip-hop dancing as interpreted by Malibu rich kids. Less amusing is the Riverdancing motif woven throughout the show. (Don’t ask.)

The production makes entertaining use of a Greek chorus of sorority sisters, who comment Supremes-style on Elle’s plight. (The actress playing one of them, Leslie Kritzer, has an original satiric vibrancy that Ms. Bundy could use more of.)

But Mr. Mitchell is also a passionate fan of vintage Broadway musicals. So every so often “Legally Blonde” rolls out another big number that pays tribute to its female star, à la “Hello, Dolly!” and “Mame.” Elle is allowed to be the center of not one, but two high-stepping parade numbers. Ms. Bundy responds to all this attention with a glossy graciousness, though what you’re hungering for is baby-diva fireworks.

The likable supporting cast includes Richard H. Blake as Elle’s narcissistic ex-boyfriend, the poised Kate Shindle as her chief rival, the charmingly nerdy Christian Borle as the man who sees her true worth and Orfeh, whose powerhouse voice seems a bit at odds with her hang-dog character, the love-bruised manicurist who becomes Elle’s best friend.

Chico and Chloe, who play (and are) real dogs, have undeniable stage presence.

The reliable Michael Rupert is very good as a smarmy, stuffed-silk-shirt professor who sings of the law in Gilbert-and-Sullivan-esque numbers that begin promisingly but peter out. And Andy Karl is a hilarious walking sight gag as a hunky delivery man in tight shorts, on hand to demonstrate that women, too, have the right to be wolf whistlers.

You see, “Legally Blonde” lets a gal have it all. She can play the bimbo while admiring bimbos of the opposite sex. She can wear pink as if it were navy blue. And while she knows that appearance isn’t everything, she also knows that it counts for an awful lot. Hence a makeover sequence in which Mr. Borle is transformed from academic geek to corporate Greek god.

But what about those who don’t appreciate the value of a manicure or a leg wax? Among Elle’s Harvard classmates is a dowdy lesbian (played by Natalie Joy Johnson), who is routinely the object of the show’s most unsavory jokes. Which makes you wonder uneasily if the message of “Legally Blonde” isn’t just that it’s O.K. to be pretty, but that it’s not O.K. not to be.

LEGALLY BLONDE

Music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin; book by Heather Hach, based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the MGM motion picture; directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell; music director and conductor, James Sampliner; orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke; arrangements by Mr. O’Keefe and Mr. Sampliner; sets by David Rockwell; costumes by Gregg Barnes; lighting by Ken Posner and Paul Miller; sound by Acme Sound Partners; associate director, Marc Bruni; associate choreographer, Denis Jones; technical supervisor, Smitty/Theatersmith, Inc.; animal trainer, William Berloni; production stage manager, Bonnie L. Becker; general manager, NLA/Maggie Brohn; associate producers, PMC Productions, Yasuhiro Kawana and Andrew Asnes/Adam Zotovich. Presented by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, Dori Berinstein, James L. Nederlander, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, Amanda Lipitz, Broadway Asia, Barbara Whitman, FWPM Group, Hendel/Wiesenfeld, Goldberg/Binder, Stern/Meyer, Lane/Comley, Bartner-Jenkins/Nocciolino and Warren Trepp, in association with MGM on Stage, Darice Denkert and Dean Stolber. Produced for Fox Theatricals by Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson. At the Palace Theater, 1564 Broadway; (212) 307-4100. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

WITH: Laura Bell Bundy (Elle Woods), Christian Borle (Emmett Forrest), Orfeh (Paulette), Richard H. Blake (Warner Huntington III), Kate Shindle (Vivienne Kensington), Nikki Snelson (Shandi/Brooke Wyndham) and Michael Rupert (Professor Callahan).