Review: “Legally Blonde” at Metropolis Performing Arts Center
(Photo: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre)
When wanting to welcome people back to live theater, “Legally Blonde” can be a great choice. It’s the ultimate female empowerment musical that is filled with great fun, huge dance numbers, witty dialog and memorable songs.
The Metropolis Performing Arts Center brought together a large cast of energetic performers to tell this story of Elle, a Malibu blonde who pursues her ex-boyfriend Warner to Harvard only to discover new things about herself.
Directed by Robin M. Hughes, the show features a few line updates that keep the show fresh and the Delta Nu sorority now features non-female members. Especially noteworthy and admirable was the body positivity shown in both casting and costuming. Delta Nu’s members were of diverse shapes and sizes and all were given appropriate love.
The show’s strength lies in the performance of its leads, the energy of the ensemble and the enthusiasm of the singing.
You can’t have a good “Legally Blonde” without a captivating Elle Woods and in Alaina Wis the Metropolis Performing Arts Center has the goods. She’s charismatic and walks the line between ditzy and wise, a woman with hidden intelligence that people underestimate only at their peril. While early on she gets a bit breathless after a big dance number, she otherwise puts in a very strong performance. Her Elle is easy to root for. Wis is a giving performer, making others on stage with her shine.
As her counterpart, Dan Hamman’s Emmett Forrest is charming, an outsider who can see beyond Elle’s exterior. He injects personality and admiration into his songs, particularly “Chip on My Shoulder” and the first rendition of “Legally Blonde.”
Josephine Van Ert is always fully aware that Vivienne, Warner’s new girlfriend, is more than just an antagonist for audiences to hate. She has depth and Van Ert provides that, even while not hesitating to be the mean girl who flaunts her relationship with Warner.
Professor Callahan has to be offensive and Christopher Johnson brings just the right amount of arrogance to the role. Haley Gustafson is impressive in the opening number of Act Two as the fitness instructor who is ready to whip people into shape with a high-impact exercise routine.
There were scenes that needed more directorial attention, especially toward the end with some actors prone to rushing through important lines that should have provided big reveals. If one hadn’t seen the musical before, it would have been hard to understand why the trial played out the way it did because timing was too frequently off. Wis performed well, but others she interacted with burbled key moments, sacrificing clarity to an amusing affectation.
Jen Cupani’s choreography demanded a lot of the performers. She filled the stage with the ensemble and gave them delightful moves that always forwarded the storytelling.
Other technical elements detracted from the high standards that the artistic staff set. The lighting designer seemed more interested in showing off the fancy abilities of the lighting bar than in paying attention to the story. Background lights changed for no reason; sometimes they seemed related to the story other times it was just a change of color. Worse, there were too many times when faces were in the dark. Good lighting goes unnoticed, the lighting for this show was intrusive and distracting.
The set failed to contribute to the storytelling other than to provide levels for the actors to climb upon. The backdrop could have been a set for any number of musicals, there was nothing about it that said “Legally Blonde.” There were also times when the set did not live up to the descriptions of the script. While the restaurant at the beginning of the musical was lovely, Elle’s dorm room didn’t look at all “Hello, Kitty,” making Emmett’s observation fall flat.
The costumer helped Elle’s fashion sense to shine, but failed to make Emmett shabby enough to earn the disdain of his professor or motivate Elle to need to give him a makeover.
“Legally Blonde” is always a fun, feel-good musical and the one at The Metropolis Performing Arts Center has much to recommend it, even if it falls short of all that it could be.