By Joy McKay.
Sat in the stalls at Mayflower Theatre watching staff scurrying about putting on a brave face over some panic. The show had started, the first number underway when a gentleman (from neither Malibu, or Harvard), walked to centre stage. The lighting rig had crashed, they had to reset but the show would restart in a few minutes.
It gave me the opportunity to look around at my fellow audience members. I hadn’t realised the show had such a following but sitting here surrounded by pink bows, two-piece suits and Cowboy boots it was becoming very apparent Legally Blonde The Musical had become quite the phenomena. But time was ticking away, me and my girlfriend discussed how long they would keep trying to fix an issue before deciding to pull a show.
But this was opening night, the theatre was full, feeling absolutely bursting with the enthusiastic “Delta Nus’, a term (I learned) used to refer to this show’s super-fans. After half an hour the gentleman returned; the show must go on! The news delighted the crowd and with a huge round of applause and whooping left the stage and was soon replaced by the cast for take two.
I’m by no means a massive fan of the film. I watched it 25 years ago when it was released but the big American will she/won’t she rom com isn’t my favourite genre. However, I am a massive fan of musical theatre and knew this adaptation had received great reviews, so I was looking forward to seeing the show.
The staging was beautiful using dioramas to denote location, these small-scale sets gave a Tim Burton-esque feel to the staging. Simple additions in real scale then put us in particular buildings as needed, a lecture room, store, hair salon, shower. It was refreshing to see this return to traditional staging with no rotating platforms, moving walkways or animated projections.
The cast were superb with beautiful voices and strong, tight, choreography. Mention has to be made of Jocasta Almgill, playing Brooke Wyndham, who impressively manages to sing whilst performing a skipping rope routine and Amber Davies, playing Elle Woods, who (I think) was in 12 of the 14 numbers and unlike her co-stars was in heels for almost all of them.
However completely stealing the show was Sprout, playing (Elle’s Chihuahua) Bruiser. I’ve never seen such a wonderfully well trained, calm and happy animal on stage. This was probably because of all of the cuddles, strokes and treats he received. His talent was closely followed by Milo, playing (Paulette’s English Bulldog) Milo. Both dogs were obviously very content and enjoying all the attention from the other actors.
The musical has received some updates to bring it in line with the culture in 2026 and the story has been tweaked to make it work for the stage.
The story is heralded as feminist and I do believe it well represents the patriarchal dominance in the legal profession and the challenges women in that industry face.
However it is still essentially a woman trying to find her worth in the approval of men. Saying that it’s really enjoyable; the neon lights, the costumes, the ‘Snap and Bend’ really do take you back to the Y2K era, an innocent time where feminism meant wearing pink at work. So don’t go along expecting it to smash the patriarchy but do go along to watch some fun pink fluffy nonsense with adorable doggy stars.
Tickets for Legally Blonde the Musical (Tuesday 24 – Saturday 28 February 2026) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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Interview: Q&A with Amber Davies ahead of Legally Blonde at Mayflower Theatre