LOGAN – The Cache Theatre Company has done it again.
Coming on the heels of their well-received staging of Spamalot in August, the local theater troupe has delivered another fun-filled, high-energy production in the form of Legally Blonde.
The CTC musical, based on the 2001 film of the same name, features inspired casting by director Cece Craner, amusingly gaudy costuming by Kasie Dana, exuberant choreography by Katherine Newman and outstanding vocal performances of a score full of witty tunes.
Legally Blonde lampoons the culture clash between a self-absorbed Malibu princess and stogy East Coast pseudo-intellectuals. The show is refreshingly politically incorrect and should probably be considered PG-13 for some risqué dialogue, but that’s half the fun.
CTC newcomer Sara Marshall is perfect in the role of Elle Woods, a West Coast sorority girl who gradually discovers that her head contains more than just air when she obsessively follows a former flame to Harvard Law School. Ms. Marshall can do it all, which is fortunate because she literally carries the show. She can sing beautifully, dance gracefully and has a nice sense of comic timing.
Also making her CTC debut is Meg Campbell. She’s a hoot as beauty shop stylist Paulette, who becomes a mentor to Elle in her ill-fated campaign to win back her boyfriend. Ms. Campbell also belts out a couple of the show’s best tunes.
Jenn Schmidt provides another of the show’s strong female characters as Brooke Wyndham, a fitness goddess with feet of clay. Amazingly, Ms. Schmidt can sing while performing an exercise routine that would leave a mere mortal person breathless.
Kaito Davis plays Emmett, the only real nice guy in Legally Blonde. Davis struggles valiantly to represent his gender, but this show is fueled with estrogen. Sorry, Kaito.
The rest of the cast of Legally Blonde are basically caricatures, which is all they need to be to make the show work like a charm.
As the wandering boyfriend Warner, Alec Foote is so smarmy you can’t help but wonder what Elle sees in him.
Jared Fillingim is arrogance personified as the manipulative Professor Callahan.
Jared Gregersen plays a stereotypical European. Or is he just gay?
Josh Hopkins appears as a beefcake UPS driver and is proud of it.
Legally Blonde is very much a dance-driven show and its choreography is enthusiastically performed by an ensemble of sorority sisters and Elle’s imaginary Greek Chorus made up of Rachel Griffiths, Morgan Jenkins, Liesl Nielsen, Carina Schmid and Genesie Smith.
Finally, kudos to Legally Blonde for defying the wisdom of the legendary W.C. Fields who warned actors “ … never to work with kids or dogs.” The CTC cast includes not one, but two dogs and they played their parts well.
Additional evening performances of Legally Blonde are slated at the Utah Theatre on Monday, Nov. 15; Thursday, Nov. 18; Friday, Nov. 19 and Saturday, Nov. 20. A matinee performance is also scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 20.