Legally Blonde - Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Twitter says They/She/He…. so blame them/her/him for any confusion.

A perfect record of the show at its best (other than the breath at the end of So Much Better).

So, do we think this will transfer?

I did notice a missing trouser leg at one point but just put it down to the general weirdness of the costumes, which look very much like costumes rather than anything most real people would wear. As for the pinkness, does it work in the context of the full show? Because fom the clips, it doesn't seem to work in the way pink did in the original production. In the original production, Elle wearing pink made sense both in-universe - it was her signature colour - and practically as it made it easy for the audience to pick her out in group scenes. When everyone on stage is in pink Elle doesn't stand out in the same way & it can't be her signature colour if all her friends wear nothing but pink too.

I will take one for the team and suggest that any ‘gaps’ in the audience have been ‘filled’ prior to the performance.

That would certainly match reports that have reached my ears

The reviewers were largely persuaded by the power of the diversity and inclusivity card to suspend the normal rules of criticism in order to support the so-called progressive agenda of the creative team.

There are, thankfully, some who have seen through that and commented on the poor handling of a cast member and of the use of homophobic tropes in addition to the flaws in the set and costume design.

So there are many reviewers who have been wilfully blind to very obvious flaws. And they should be ashamed of their lack of honesty.

It is perfectly possible to support the push towards a more inclusive theatre whilst also being constructively critical where necessary.

The fact that it did not receive honest reviews says much about the state of theatre criticism at present.

And the production team have got away with creating a cheap and exploitative piece of work.

Just had a browse through the comments for both west end live numbers on YouTube and they pretty much mirror what we’ve been saying on here. They are almost all negative.
No respect for critics who have pandered to the total ‘modern’ makeover which has taken away the core essence of the show not to mention overlooking the atrocious singing. It seems none are ‘brave’ enough to stick their heads above the parapets and say Isaac is miscast. Equal rights means equal treatment in reviews?
And Bend and Snap? Finger clicks? Just no. Unless you’re drawing attention to your female attributes in the sexiest (while comedic) way is it even Bend and Snap?

I went to see the show last night, and having followed this board and watched the WEL clips my expectations were low - which might mean why I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. But having slept on it, I honestly did enjoy and like it.

Issac was much better than they were at WEL. I didn’t enjoy the exaggerated accent/voice they put on throughout, and there seemed to be some showboating to stand out more at times, but overall they weren’t the trainwreck the board suggested they would be. Maybe they would have been better as one of the other Delta Nus, but overall not bad. However, the recent tweeting trying to manifest themself into the role of Jamie need to stop!

The ensemble were great. They’re all having fun and the multiple roles they play all seem to be individual and different to one another. I especially enjoyed Joe Foster and the multitude of roles they played throughout as well as Allie Daniel (even if the Delta Greek chorus costume was causing a few issues by the looks of it). I can also totally understand the love and support Billy Nevers has been getting - he stood out throughout and I look forward to seeing where his career goes.

The dogs… This was what I was least looking forward to - BUT - in this ‘version’ of the show they work. I get how easy it is to bash it and criticise it, but Liam McEvoy made Brusier a character that brought humour with his reactions to the events and then the added sub plot of Bruiser and Paulette’s dog was a cute addition. The costumes are as camp as the show - and the only criticism of the show I heard on the walk back to the underground were two girls talking about how the dogs were not ‘part of the real world’…

Eugene McCoy as Callahan was fantastic - he has the worst song in the show, but for the first time after a few times of seeing different productions of Legally Blonde, this was a stand out song for me. Nadine Higgin was just brilliant as Paulette, sets a new standard for her and Vanessa Fisher is a great Vivienne giving the bitchiness to supportive vibe effortlessly. But for me the stand out was Michael Ahomka-Lindsay as Emmett - he was just amazing and transformed the character from a boring geek to someone who has really pushed for where he wants to be making ‘Chip on my shoulder’ into a much more meaningful song.

I have a massive soft spot for Courtney Bowman after seeing her in Jamie as one of the classmates and finding myself watching her more than anyone else on the stage. Her Elle is very different from previous Elles and probably wouldn’t work in the original staging, but in this version this Elle is just right. Elle isn’t thick, she is clever in her areas of knowledge and with a push is willing to work hard which comes across well in this characterisation. Courtney did a great job of leading the show.

Now the design… I’m not against the colour code adopted for the costumes. The pink isn’t as garish as I thought it’d be and it works OK. The Harvard colour pallet I liked, and would happily adopt for myself and if I could pull of the Warner/Emmet jackets I so would! But the Elle costumes looked cheap - the navy suit just didn’t work sadly which is such a shame. It would have been great if a little bit more effort had been put into her costumes. The set, the levels etc work well but the print all over it is disgusting. Not sure what it’s meant to be - I was on row B and it looked like a firework background you get on Canva repeated over and over which I doubt it’s meant to be. And the string curtain thing all around the stage - whoever cleared it didn’t think how it would look after so many weeks in an outside setting. It’s just tatty. The only good thing is that it hides entrances and exits.

I also enjoyed the new arrangements for some of the songs, especially Serious and how Warner has been brought up to date. However I think some of the choreography needs to calm down a bit - do we really need a different head movement for every word in Gay or European? I could see a variation of this production having a future. It needs work in the design area, maybe the costumes could evolve over time, and the set needs a rethink. It isn’t perfect, but it’s not the car crash that many have made it out to be. Maybe it’s because it’s the first show I’ve managed to see in years (I’m seeing lots this week to make up for it) or that I was expecting worse so anything would be good, but I genuinely do think it’s a good show. What it’s done is place it in a contemporary setting rather than the early naughties of the film which I think was a good move to make. It’s easy to bash it based on the WEL and other things online, but I’m very glad I saw it and even more glad that it was better than it was made out to be!

Isaac was talking about auditioning for a role in Jamie on his twitter, that would be a perfect show for him to be in as thre would be so many personal feelings to draw on.

Courtney I'd be interested to see what she'll do next. Would she be too young for Sister Act?

I did think Hairspray but then you cannot really have a black person playing a white role when the underlying story is of segregation and equality.

Oh please.