Omigod! Ateneo Blue Repertory’s ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ Was Perfect!
Omigod! Ateneo Blue Repertory’s ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ Was Perfect!
Photography by CJ Isip / Courtesy of Ateneo Blue Repertory
In my entire theater kid life I’ve violated one cardinal rule: I haven’t seen the proshot of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Shocking, I know, especially for someone who really likes the cast recording of the musical and the Reese Witherspoon movie it was based on. So I mended my mistake by finally seeing the musical live. Despite being drenched in the rain on my way to Areté, Ateneo Blue Repertory’s production of the musical saved my already bad day.
Seeing this production was empowering as a woman. You can tell that it was done out of passion and love and that they understood the very core of the musical—feminism. The story of Legally Blonde is a celebration of womanhood and female camaraderie and the musical highlights it even more. The challenge of being a woman is navigating this world ruled by principles favored towards men. There is this senseless and mindless competition amongst women that also serves the ego of men and the premise of Legally Blonde starts with this.
The movie and musical develop Elle’s character and every woman in the story. From its opening number, Omigod You Guys, to its one of most pivotal moments, when Vivienne urged Elle to continue working on the case, Legally Blonde wants to remind us that you can find an ally and a friend in a woman, regardless of your background. To stand up for your fellow sister in arms against the crushing system that is patriarchy is enough to be considered a bare minimum for us women.
Having not seen the proshot of the original Broadway production, I didn’t know what to expect out of this production, and I can honestly say—what a whirlwind experience. Ateneo Blue Repertory has been consistently putting out spectacular musical productions and their production of Legally Blonde: The Musical was beyond perfect. The limited space of Doreen Black Box Theater was used creatively. The set design was absolutely clever, and the stage direction is sublime, using every inch of the custom stage they built for the show.
Danielle Nicole Tan soared in her performance as Elle Woods. There’s a sass and earnestness in her performance that resonated with me. Her chemistry with Ron Balgos, who played Emmett Forrest, was kilig-worthy. Balgos’ Emmett is earnest and humble, a perfect encapsulation of the character’s personality. Standouts also include Raflesia Bravo as Paulette and Sara Sicam as Vivienne Kensington. I was also only able to watch one set of cast and not the other ones.
The relevance of the musical still stays especially with what they’ve done differently in this production: making it more Gen Z! With the infusion of recent Filipino pop culture references into the script, the musical became more entertaining to watch. They even set the musical in the modern day, so the references didn’t feel shoehorned into the play.
Ultimately I found this production of Legally Blonde: The Musical to be so enjoyable. With everything Ateneo-based student theater companies have put out this year so far (Ningnig sa Silangan and Sintang Dalisay to name a few) and other theater productions from other universities, rest assure that the future of student-led theater productions is bright and promising.
