There! Right There! is a Wondrous Production of Legally Blonde

W. C. Fields once famously said, “Never work with children or animals.” Well, Encinal's 2022 production of Legally Blonde does both. When I arrived I knew this was a high school production and expected an amateurish production of kiddie theater with tons of errors but to my surprise the show showed a level of professionality and respect to the style of the OBC (Original Broadway Cast) that wowed me away. Though Legally Blonde is a show I know quite well, the cast of adept actors made the jokes still funny even though I know them.

The thing I was most impressed with by this production was how big of a chip on their shoulder the EHS Drama Club had. The drama club had no musical director, something unheard of for a musical production especially one at a high school level. Director Bob Moorhead tried to get a musical director but was unable to get one; he instead had to rent extra tracks from MTI (Musical Theatre International, the company typically used for renting musical licenses). Having this major setback and still being able to hit the harmony's impressed me immensely.

Addie Griffith plays Elle Woods. (Image via Kelly Quach)

The cast also used a live dog, which they trained well enough to not just run out into the audience at first chance. The fact that they got those dogs whipped into shape for a performance as mystical as Ireland.

“It's kinda stressful backstage and when we were in rehearsals we didn't have anyone watching the dogs, they were just tied onto something," said Senior Annabel Jones who plays Serena. "During the shows we had family members watching the dogs. But it's fun. They are cute.”

The other issue which the EHS Drama Club miraculously overcame was having a female play a typically male character. Most musicals are very strongly written about characters being certain genders, and oftentimes have all of the music written for the envisioned gender. This makes gender swapping a character incredibly difficult but EHS Drama did it skillfully and respectfully to the original character.

I found Legally Blonde to be an exquisite production that stayed true to the original imagining of the play while adding Encinal's own personal touch. I will be going and seeing it again this coming weekend and I recommend anyone else to do so. If you would like to go, there are shows on May 13 and 14 at 7:30pm.

Tickets are available at https://brownpapertickets.com/event/5410878 and at the door.