LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL Scotch College Fisher Chapel Until 04 Aug 2018 Review by Talia Gaertner-Jones Scotch College’s production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” is one to be commended. Director Linda Williams has prepped her cast well and the maturity and understanding portrayed by her leads shine through. The music is not easy – quite fast paced and wordy at times – and Musical Director Briony Nickels leads the cast and orchestra confidently. The Choreographer, Nina Richards, is to be commended for her work with such a large cast, creating fun and flirty numbers like “Bend And Snap” and challenging, fast paced ‘workouts’ such as “Whipped Into Shape”, two stand out numbers from the show. The night I attended featured the ‘Harvard’ cast and, after a few opening night nerves, the show picked up pace. Onor Nottle as the lead character Elle Woods definitely looked the part. She carried herself well and there where many moments where she was able to shine. Opposite Nottle was Harry Fielder as Emmett. The two worked together nicely and portrayed an ‘on stage’ chemistry. Their duets of “Chip On My Shoulder (Part 1)” and “Legally Blonde” were lovely to watch. Elle’s Delta Nu sorority sister’s Margot (Charlie Miller), Serena (Issy Darwent) and Pilar (Imogeone Mons) jump in and out of scenes giving advice to Elle through her ups and downs. Their appearances during “Omigod You Guys” and “Positive” are to be noted. Miller has many moments where her comedic acting steals the spotlight! “Legally Blonde: The Musical” is a great show as it provides many opportunities for female characters. Two more standouts from the performance were Paulette, played by Georgina Taeger, and Brooke, played by Savannah Stevenson. Both Taeger and Stevenson had a clear understanding of their characters and played them with conviction. The courtroom scenes were great for watching character development from the ensemble. And Felix Setchell deserves a mention as Carlos during the number “Gay Or European”. There were some slight technical issues with microphones during the opening night performance with some beginning sentence starters being missed and one mic turned on at an incorrect time with a rather unfortunate outcome. The lighting, projection stills and animation by Craig Williams, Brian Budgen and Jamie Lee Raynor worked well and I particularly liked the opening scene with the social media influence on the projections side stage. The transformation of the Fisher Chapel for this production is also worth a mention. As the racked seating definitely assisted with stage visibility.