Spokane Children Theatre’s take on ‘Legally Blonde’ aims ‘to mimic the journey that we all take to find ourselves’

The story of Elle Woods is a lesson in not judging a book by its cover. Or, in her case, don’t judge a law student by her pink outfits and sparkly pens.

“Legally Blonde” is a show that’s easy on the eyes thanks to its fashion-forward costumes, fun choreography and locations that range from sunny California to storied Harvard, but it’s not all style and no substance. Woods overcomes stereotypes, and maybe a little self-doubt, to find success.

Spokane Children’s Theatre’s production of “Legally Blonde” runs Friday through Sunday.

At the beginning of “Legally Blonde,” Elle Woods (Avery Hudson), president of UCLA’s Delta Nu sorority, believes her boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Leland Hargrove) will propose that night. The sorority sisters, including Margot (Loralyn Lenz), Serena (Emmeline Hirt) and Pilar (Bella York), help her find the perfect dress for the occasion.

When Woods gets to dinner, however, Huntington tells her he’s breaking up with her because he needs to date someone more serious if he wants to become a senator. Woods is devastated but decides to follow Huntington to Harvard Law School to show him how serious she can be.

Sorority sister Kate (Emerson Hargrove) helps Woods study for the LSAT. To the surprise of many, Woods is accepted. At Harvard, her bubbly personality and pink wardrobe draw strange looks from classmates. She soon finds that Emmett Forrest (Kevin Pickering), a teaching assistant, is the one person willing to help her.

Making matters worse is classmate Vivienne Kensington (Madi Brownlee), Warner’s new girlfriend. She tells Professor Callahan (Shae Deardorff) to kick Woods out of class because she didn’t read the assigned case.

Despite the setback, and through her signature blend of sugar, spice and everything nice, Woods continues to make her way through the ranks at Harvard, eventually earning a coveted internship. She then has to put everything she’s learned to the test while helping with the case of fitness instructor Brooke Wyndham (June Duggan), who is accused of murdering her husband.

The cast features Lilli Watson, Evan Luppert, Bailey Quirke, Alekzandra Kaczor, Stone Thorne, Madison Lenhartzen, Joshua Kerr, Kynzie Hutton, Natalie LaPlante, Karina Rushing, Maximus Davis, Katie Jones, Charlotte Palm, Piper Allendorf, Robert Aronson, Aster Davis, Adelaide Dodd, Ava Fernandez and Stella Evert.

The show is directed by Julianne Chartier, music directed by Beth Taylor, choreographed by Daniel Lenz and stage managed by Michelle Davis.

The musical features music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. “Legally Blonde” is based on the 2001 film of the same name, itself based on the book of the same name by Amanda Brown.

Spokane Children’s Theatre was originally set to produce “Legally Blonde” right before the pandemic began. Once the theater was able to reopen, Executive Director Tanya Brownlee, who was going to direct the original production, and the team decided to let the young actors who had been cast graduate out of the theater before staging “Legally Blonde.”

They didn’t feel it was right to cast the same actors years later, but also didn’t feel it was right to hold auditions while the original cast was still involved at the theater.

“Legally Blonde” is not the typical fare for Spokane Children’s Theatre, but it was the perfect fit for the theater’s summer intensive, ages 13 to 19. The cast auditioned at the beginning of the summer and were given scripts to take home and memorize. During the two-week camp, the cast and crew work to put everything together.

“The reason we were considering bringing that to the forefront was because of how many appropriate topics are brought up within this show about really finding identity in your own self, and that’s something that teenagers are already working through,” Chartier said. “Having this opportunity to go through and approach these topics with a group of people who not only understand it, but need to hear it, is why it was chosen for our stage.”

The creative team wanted to stress that people are more than the stereotypes they’ve been given. Woods, for example, comes from a place of privilege, while teaching assistant Forrest comes from much less. Despite this, Pickering said a true connection forms between the two characters, as they both are the odd one out, just on different ends of the spectrum.

“As the show goes on, he starts being friends with Elle, and then it eventually leads to more of a pure love, so I think they fit each other well,” he said.

There are also stereotypes about members of the LGBTQ+ community, but the creative team has made sure those stereotypes are moved past via character arcs and growth.

“People are not limited to the stereotype that they are placed under, but they are limitless, regardless of stereotypes,” Chartier said.

Throughout the show, characters tend to fit one of three categories, costume-wise. There are the UCLA students who spend lots of time on their looks, the Harvard students “who have never brushed their hair because they don’t have time to do anything except for study,” Chartier said, and finally the students looking professional in the courtroom.

Forrest himself has a physical transformation during “Take It Like a Man” that takes his look from plain to professional.

“Even though Emmett, who has graduated with honors, is very high prestige within the Harvard community, he still is judged by his external appearance and is expected to have that glow up, and he gets to successfully do that in the show,” Chartier said.

The journeys Woods and Forrest, as well as many other characters, go on over the course of the show make “Legally Blonde” more than just a pretty face, Chartier said.

“We’re all laughing, but at the end of it, you feel a heartache for the journey that Elle takes,” she said. “You are watching the growth happen, and it’s such a parallel to what journey we all take as individuals. So watching Elle’s come to life on stage, it’s supposed to mimic the journey that we all take to find ourselves.”