By Paige Finnerty
Correspondent
With a Delta Nu sign hanging outside of Kendall Hall,“Legally Blonde: The Musical” hit Kendall’s Main Stage from Wednesday, March 29, to Sunday, April 2.
Presented by TCNJ Musical Theatre, the musical consisted of two acts packed with 22 songs. Freshman physics major Cynthia Reynolds played the part of Elle Woods, a Delta Nu sorority president determined to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner.
Woods embarks on a mission to show Warner, played by freshman business management major Anthony Sofia, that she can be serious, too, by enrolling in the same law school as him.
She wants to show Warner she can be “somebody who wears black when nobody is dead,” as Woods says in the musical. Woods is ready to trade in her signature pink for black, all in the name of love.
“My favorite part of the play was seeing the moment when Elle won the case and the audience was just clapping and cheering for her and realizing that the ditzy blonde they’ve been following for the whole play was actually capable of doing something,” said Sarah Pawlowski, a freshman journalism major.
Woods is, in fact, able to achieve greater things than she thought possible. Along the way to achieving greatness, Elle meets Emmett, an aspiring lawyer who has a lot to prove. Emmett, played by freshman communication studies major Jason Monto, and Elle sing “Chip on My Shoulder” together along with chorus and ensemble members.
The quirky hairdresser Paulette, played by Kate Augustin, a freshman elementary education and psychology double major, becomes a close friend and confidante of the pink-loving law student. Audience members laughed while Paulette sung “Ireland,” a powerful song about her dream of marry an Irishman.
Woods studies hard with the help of Emmett and goes on to earn a highly sought after internship from the intimidating Professor Callahan, played by Kyle Elphick, The Signal’s web editor and a sophomore journalism major. Callahan is hired to defend Brooke, played by sophomore business management major Karaline Rosen, against murder charges.
Elle saves the case when she concludes that the pool boy, who claims to have been Brooke’s lover, is actually gay. In the song “There! Right There!” the cast sings about trying to figure out if the pool boy is gay or “just European.” Audience members laughed at the scene’s hilarity.
In a turn of events, Woods decides to quit law school after her law professor kisses her. Woods is defeated and discouraged until her friends convince her that she is “Legally Blonde” and that’s not a bad thing to be.
Dressed in her famous pink suit, Woods combines both her legal and fashion expertise to win the case. Audience members like Pawlowski rejoiced in her success and newfound self-confidence.
“My second favorite part was when she ditched Warner and realized that, first of all, she didn’t need a man and, second of all, she needed someone who was going to support her and it definitely wasn’t him,” Pawlowski said in reference to Woods turning down Warner’s proposal.
The end of the musical showed the characters years later: Woods is valedictorian of Harvard Law, showing all those who doubted her that she is more than her blonde hair and nice clothes. Warner quits law school to become a model, and Emmett defends Professor Callahan’s wife in a costly divorce.
Not to mention, Paulette finds herself an Irishman named Kyle, a local delivery man she accidentally punches earlier in the musical during “Bend and Snap.”
“Legally Blonde” mixes humor and poignancy to create a production that had students like Kailey Fitzgerald, a freshman elementary education and psychology double major, touched by the performance.
“Seeing a musical that has such a dear place in my heart done so well was really special,” Fitzgerald said. “The cast was amazing, sets were beautiful and the (orchestra) was well practiced.”
