Recently, on the third, fourth, and fifth of March, Chandler High Theater made a triumphant return to the stage with their production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. After two years of canceled productions and streamed shows without an audience, the cast and crew went all out for this show. Legally Blonde is the story of Elle Woods (played by junior Katie Stone), a stereotypical “dumb blonde” who follows her ex-boyfriend Warner to Harvard Law School after he breaks up with her for someone more “Serious”. Elle learns that she’s far more than her hair color and overcomes adversity to win a huge court case and graduate as valedictorian of her law school, all while proving that she doesn’t need to be “Serious” to reach her goals. Stone says, “playing Elle was a literal dream come true for me. This cast was nothing but supportive the entire time and I am so beyond grateful to have had such an amazing experience performing my dream role.”
The cast and crew put their heart and soul into making this show outstanding, and it definitely worked. I saw the show on closing night, Saturday, March 5. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the show, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the incredible quality of the singing, acting, and production. I was met with Broadway-level voices and actors. The cast wasn’t the only part of the show that I found impressive. The behind-the-scenes production, although unseen, was incredible. Every costume, prop, shift, and change in lighting looked amazing. Every actor had wonderful makeup that shined through the heavy lights, and each costume was unique and different in a way that made each performer stand out, all without taking away from the leads. Assistant stage manager, Dylan Cornwell, says, “Seeing the actors go from Auditions to where they were on show night really puts into perspective the time and effort that’s put into the show. In total, we spent over 200 hours just in rehearsals preparing for the show. There’s really so much effort that’s put into our shows that makes them so quality.” It’s clear how much effort all of the cast and crew put in for this show.
The thing that impressed me the most though, was how well the show came together. Halfway through rehearsals, almost the entire cast was sent home with COVID, causing rehearsals to go on pause for almost three weeks. With that kind of deterrence, it’s easy to think that the show would have to be dropped, but the cast pulled through, creating, arguably, what I think is one of the best productions to come out of the Chandler High Theater Department.
