United Kingdom Legally Blonde The Musical: Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 17.3.2026. (JPr)
Paul Bovey’s ‘The History of Legally Blonde’ in the programme introduces our heroine in this way: ‘With her long blonde hair, chihuahua in hand and penchant for pink, homecoming queen Elle Woods never looked like your serious law school applicant. But when she leaves UCLA for Harvard to win back her man, she’s capable of winning so much more: not just cases and legal arguments, but the respect of her fellow students, professors and friends, proving there’s more to Elle than being “Legally Blonde”’. We learn how the 2001 film version I have actually seen – with Reece Witherspoon as Elle – was a $141 million sleeper hit before it graduated from the screen to Broadway as an award-winning musical in 2007; eventually arriving in London’s West End in 2010 and since then it ‘has worked its magic around the world.’ This current revival is on a UK and Ireland tour (for information click here) which began at Leicester’s Curve in February 2026 and is dynamically directed by Nicolai Foster, that theatre’s artistic director.
If pink isn’t your colour – or other garish ones for that matter – then this high-spirited show is not for you. Colin Richmond’s set has 14 LED panels in a curve (!) around the stage fringed with lights that can change colours and/or flash so that with minimal additional stage furniture the appropriate visual aesthetic for each scene is created. And scenes do flash by; especially in a rampant first act that was almost as exhausting to watch as it must have been for the supremely talented all-singing, all dancing ensemble (yet another to grace the Cliffs Pavilion stage!) who bounce around during Leah Hill’s choreography like Duracell Bunnies doing a Jane Fonda’s Workout (though that reference is showing my age).
You wonder if the opening ‘Omigod You Guys’ will ever end and we could be introduced quicker to Elle Woods and her Delta Nu sorority sisters (Serena, Margot and Pilar) who act as an updated Greek chorus popping-up during the musical to comment on the plot or urge Elle on. There is then a headlong rush through the story beginning with Elle’s disappointment when she breaks up with her boyfriend Warner Huntington III who wants someone more ‘serious’ as he is heading for Harvard. Elle decides to follow him, passes the admission test, gets accepted, endures the wrath of Professor Callahan, meets beautician Paulette who encourages her; whilst enduring the distain of her classmates and their trickery. (Elle turns up at a posh party as a, pink of course, Playboy Bunny). Now having gained the support of teaching assistant Emmett, Elle wins one of the professor’s coveted internship posts having finally ditched her pursuit of Warren which, truthfully, took up too much of this first half.
Act II – as often is the case in musicals – is so much better and I began to see what had drawn the sold-out audience to the Cliffs Pavilion. It actually seems to catch its breath despite the workout video – the all-singing, all-skipping and stamina-sapping ‘Whipped into Shape’ – enacted on the stage by fitness queen Brooke Wyndham and her team. Callahan and his budding legal eagles are to defend Brooke against the charge of murdering her billionaire husband. Brooke reveals her alibi to Elle and she promises not to tell anyone, so this marginalises her and Emmett during the trial that is the focus of this act.
All the show’s highpoints follow in quick succession: ‘Bend and Snap’ gets Paulette a boyfriend in the unlikeliest way. The lack of response from the flamboyant chief witness to Elle doing the very same ‘Bend and Snap’ gives them the answer to whether he is gay or European (during ‘There! Right There!’, a rather risqué song for 2026). So of course, he could not have had an affair with Brooke, and she therefore has no motive. Then Legally Blonde takes a serious turn as Professor Callahan forces himself on Elle who (at last) gets a slow and poignantly reflective song (‘Legally Blonde’). Elle prepares to return to California but not before there is time for some Irish dancing (don’t ask!). Brooke fires Callahan and Elle gets Brooke freed from the murder charge with a reveal worthy of Columbo.
Warren’s Harvard girlfriend Vivienne dumps him having witnessed what Callahan subjected Elle to. An epilogue has Elle as the valedictorian of her class and the threads of the story are all tied up as we learn what became of those she has encountered along the way. And it all ends with Emmett proposing to Elle and she gets the happy rom-com ending the audience audibly has been willing for her.
That Legally Blonde succeeds despite some clunky overextended scenes and songs with lyrics which are not particulate memorable is a credit to the entire cast whose eager-to-please performances – with the support of a lively band led by music director Cerys McKenna – kept you invested in Elle’s story. Firstly to the stars of the show, a super cute chihuahua Sprout as Elle’s dog Bruiser who relished its moments on the stage or was it simply just the snacks it got. Yet with a tiny pink mortar board on the chihuahua’s head at end it provided the lasting image of this Legally Blonde. By contrast Milo, an English Bulldog, was somewhat less engaged as Paulette’s Rufus but thankfully they were both real and not (ho-hum) puppet dogs.
More seriously, everyone was on top form after a disappointing previous week in Milton Keynes when the heavily promoted star of Legally Blonde Amber Davies stepped away from the tour for the foreseeable future because of recovery from sickness. Hannah Lowther was already the alternate Elle and totally grabbed her chance to show she is a musical theatre name to look out for in the future. The charismatic Lowther reveals all of Elle’s vulnerability, resilience, charm and humour and sings strongly and dances indefatigably. The hilarious Karen Mavundukure was Paulette who is the comic foil for Elle in Legally Blonde; what a powerhouse personality she becomes in Mavundukure’s scene-stealing performance backed-up by her belting vocals.
Perhaps the significant men in Elle’s life are little more than two-dimensional but to varying degrees they are brought to life by Jamie Chatterton as the contemptible Warren; Adam Cooper as the ultimately reprehensible silver fox Callahan; and George Crawford as the devoted Emmett whose slow-burn romancing of Elle culminates in that show-ending, if last gasp, marriage proposal.
Many wonderful vignettes elsewhere add to the fun which makes this Legally Blonde hard to resist, eventually. Whether a fan of the film or not, do not miss the musical if it comes to a theatre near you.
Jim Pritchard
Cast included:
Hannah Lowther – Elle Woods
George Crawford – Emmett
Emily Plews – Margot
Karen Mavundukure – Paulette
Adam Cooper – Callahan
Jamie Chatterton – Warner
Annabelle Terry – Vivienne
Jocasta Almgill – Brooke
Rosanna Harris – Serena
Remi Ferdinand – Pilar
Ty-Reece Stewart – Kyle
Bradley Delarosbel – Carlos
Kate / Chutney – Raiaz Fisher
Keanna Bloomfield – Enid
Creatives:
Music and Lyrics – Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
Book – Heather Hach
Director – Nikolai Foster
Choreographer – Leah Hill
Musical Supervision & Additional Arrangements -Matt Spencer-Smith
Set designer – Colin Richmond
Lighting designer – Ben Cracknell
Sound designer – Adam Fisher
Costume designer – Tom Rogers
Musical director – Cerys McKenna
Associate Director – Michelle Payne
Associate Choreographer – Emily Plews