Legally Blonde: The Musical is coming to St. Joseph-Scollard Hall thanks to the many talented students in the Bears Musical Theatre Program.
This afternoon, the cast and crew put on a free preview for their fellow students, and anticipation runs high for opening night. Advance tickets are going fast. Around 200 seats have already been sold for each show.
Brian Overholt is the vocal and band director for the show. He is also a teacher at the school and has been involved in many productions. For this show, there is an 11-member band performing the soundtrack, and the cast consists of 46 members.
“We have a whole crew” as well, Overholt noted, “with 29 students who do all of the props and costumes for the set.”
It’s all hands on deck to bring the magic, and the students involved enroll in a class solely dedicated to producing the show. “It’s a fan favourite,” Overholt said of Legally Blonde, “and a lot of our students are fans of it too.”
“The key to success in any musical theatre production is time practicing,” Overholt advised, “practicing the songs at home and rehearsing with each other, developing their ears for harmonies, coordinating their bodies for the movement,” all help to build “stage presence and character.”
“We’re proud of the time and the work we put in.”
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The talent displayed by the Bears Musical Theatre Program is renowned throughout the region, and Legally Blonde: The Musical, carries on the tradition.
"We're really excited to present the show to our friends and family as well as the community," said grade 12 student, David Dunn. "We love to hear the audience reactions and we feed off of their energy."
Addie Caciagli-Rocha, a grade 11 student, agreed. "Musical Theatre has always been a passion of mine and it's an incredible opportunity to showcase a team effort this week"
“It’s a comedy,” Overholt said of the show, “the story of Elle Woods, who leaves college following the love of her life, Warner, and she chases him all the way to law school at Harvard, where she realizes there are a lot of lessons to be learned.”
The musical premiered in 2007 to much success. Written by Laurence O’Keefe, Neil Benjamin, and Heather Bach, the stage version was based on the novel by Amanda Brown which inspired the 2001 hit film of the same name, starring Reese Witherspoon.
"This is the culmination of an entire semester of work by the staff and students of our Musical Theatre program. It's nice to see all of the moving parts of a production come together. We are extremely proud of our students and their efforts to complete the costumes, props, set, dances, songs, and character development of this show," Overholt said.
There are three shows, January 18th, 19th, and 20th, and all begin at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are available at Scollard Hall’s main office. Tickets will also be sold at the door before each show, if available.
Tickets are $15 each and cash only.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
