Legally Blonde The Musical

Legally Blonde The Musical will be on view at San Diego Civic Theatre from March 30 through April 4. Tickets range from $18-$79.

 

UCLA sorority star Elle Woods doesn’t take “no” for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone more “serious,” Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

 

In its first year on Broadway, Legally Blonde The Musical earned seven 2007 Tony Award nominations, ten 2007 Drama Desk Award Nominations, a 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award, and the chorus of the musical was honored by Actors’ Equity Association’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) with the first ever ACCA Award.  The musical also ranked in the top ten list of the most requested Ticketmaster “Arts & Theatre Events” for 2007. Legally Blonde The Musical received three 2009 Touring Broadway Awards in New York City on May 4, 2009. The show won awards for Best New Musical, Best Production Design, and Best Choreography of a Touring Production. The awards, presented by The Broadway League, honor excellence in Touring Broadway. It is the only such national award.

 

Becky Gulsvig, the Elle understudy in the original Broadway cast, is Elle Woods in the tour. Fans of the MTV reality show Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, which premiered on June 2, 2008, will recognize a familiar face in the tour casting: Third runner-up and fan favorite Rhiannon Hansen appears as Elle’s best friend Margot. The reality show represented the musical’s second venture with MTV. In the fall of 2007, MTV Legally Blonde The Musical in its entirety to stellar ratings and was subsequently nominated for two 2007-2008 Daytime Emmy Awards.

 

Joining Gulsvig and Hansen are DB Bonds as Emmett, Natalie Joy Johnson as Paulette, Jeff McLean as Warner, Megan Lewis as Vivienne, Coleen Sexton as Brooke, Tony Award-winner Michael Rupert as Professor Callahan, Tiffany Engen as Serena, Lucia Spina as Enid and Candice Marie Woods as Pilar.

 

Also featured in the cast are: Barry Anderson, Sara Andreas, Kyle Brown, Liberty Cogen, Ven Daniel, Brooke Leigh Engen, Spencer Howard, Paul Jackel, Jason Kappus, Ashley Moniz, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Brian Patrick Murphy, CJay Hardy Philip, Jonathan Rayson, Constantine Rousouli, Sara Sheperd, and Josh Walden.

 

The Original Broadway Cast Recording for Legally Blonde The Musical was released on Ghostlight Records, an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records, and captured the number-one slot on the Billboard Cast Album chart and charted at number 86 on the Billboard Top 200. The album has continued its success, charting every week as one of the top-selling Broadway cast recordings and soared to the Top 10 albums (of any genre) on iTunes once the show premiered on MTV.

 

As on Broadway, Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell is the director and choreographer.  Music and lyrics are by both Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and the book is by Heather Hach. The production features scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by San Diego’s own Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller, orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke and sound design by ACME Sound Partners. Legally Blonde The Musical is produced on Broadway by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, and Dori Berinstein, in association with MGM Onstage, Darcie Denkert, and Dean Stolber. (619/570-1100, www.broadwaysd.com, www.legallyblondethemusical.com)