‘Legally Blonde’ musical proves lawfully enjoyable at MCC in Crystal Lake

“Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you, button, are none of those things.”

– Elle’s father in “Legally Blonde”

When films are adapted into stage musicals, audiences enter the theater with certain expectations about the characters, the storyline and sometimes even particular lines of dialogue like the one at the start of this review. Spun from the 2001 Reese Witherspoon/Luke Wilson high-concept comedy “Legally Blonde,” the stage musical now at McHenry County College’s Black Box Theatre will be familiar to anyone who saw the film.

The plot still involves Elle Woods, a rich blonde sorority girl in California, who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School, overcoming “dumb blonde” stereotypes and exceeding everyone’s expectations. While the movie wasn’t an Oscar nominee, the stage musical was nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2007, including Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. Just like Elle’s dog Bruiser, this show has an impressive pedigree, and the MCC production is the opposite of “boring and ugly and serious.”

Working with a largely talented cast of 24 humans and two dogs, director Jay Geller, choreographer and assistant director Maggie McCord, assistant director Spencer White and musical director Michael Hillstrom do a great job at keeping things light, even when characters like Elle (Grace Corwine) have self-doubts.

For those who haven’t seen the movie or the musical before, you may need a little more of a plot synopsis. As the show opens, Elle, a fashion-conscious college senior and popular sorority president, is expecting her longtime boyfriend, the handsome and equally rich Warner Huntington III (Elijah Freundl), to propose to her during a date at a classy restaurant. Her Delta Nu sorority sisters, including Margot (Morgan Tolentino-Siazon), Serena (Adelynn Kuhlemeier) and Pilar (Vienna Logan), also see Elle and Warner as star-crossed lovers – “like the couple from ‘Titanic,’ only no one dies.”

Warner surprises everyone when he tells Elle that since he’s headed to Harvard to become an attorney and eventually a politician, they need to break up, since the wife of a future senator needs to be “less of a Marilyn, more of a Jackie.” After getting over the shock, Elle decides that for the sake of love, she must follow her heart and do whatever it takes to get accepted into Harvard’s law program. After Elle is admitted, she hopes to prove herself worthy of eventually becoming Mrs. Huntington.

Elle’s non-boring, non-ugly, non-serious style makes her a classic fish out of water, attracting the jeers of people like: Vivienne (Addie Keller), the conservative law student who’s already become Warner’s new girlfriend, and Professor Callahan (Stephen Pickering), a prestigious attorney who values shark-like behavior in his students (as laid out in the Act I song “Blood in the Water,” where “you’re nothing until the thrill of the kill becomes your only law”).

In Elle’s corner, meanwhile, are Callahan’s teaching assistant, Emmett (Reede Norlie), who helps Elle with her studies – even over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks – and Paulette (Emily Kunash), a divorced hair stylist who misses her dog (her ex took Rufus and their trailer) and whose love life is nonexistent.

Act II centers on a high-profile trial in which fitness video star Brooke Wyndham (Izzy Griffin) is accused of killing her husband. Callahan and his interns are hired to defend her, a task made more difficult when Brooke won’t give her alibi. Will Elle be on the defense team? If so, will she make a difference? That’s for you to determine.

Standouts in the cast include: Corwine, who wins the audience over early on with her portrayal of a beauty with brains and compassion; Norlie, whose humble Emmett appreciates Elle as a person and who has a beautiful second-act duet with Corwine (“Take It Like a Man”); and Kunash, whose portrayal of Paulette provides comic relief and another character to root for (“Bend and Snap” is a hilarious Act II song that gives Kunash the chance for physical comedy). Griffin is also excellent as Brooke, singing “Whipped Into Shape” without being out of breath during her active jump-rope workout routine.

It’s worth noting that the show contains some adult subject matter (including a nonpolitically correct song, “Gay or European?”).

Opening-night jitters and the positioning of the seven-member pit band behind the stage may have made it difficult on a couple of occasions for singers to stay in sync or – in one early Act I song – in tune. But those concerns were not present for the vast majority of the memorable score, making me eager to add the Broadway cast recording to my CD collection.

In summary, reserve your tickets now for a lawfully enjoyable night out, even if you have to go to Elle and back.

• Paul Lockwood is a communications consultant at Health Care Service Corporation in Chicago, as well as a local theater actor, singer, Grace Lutheran Church (Woodstock) and Toastmasters member, columnist and past president of TownSquare Players. He’s lived in Woodstock for more than 24 years.

IF YOU GO

• WHAT: “Legally Blonde: The Musical”

• WHERE: McHenry County College Black Box Theatre, 8900 U.S. Highway 14, Crystal Lake; park in Lot C and enter Building E, with theater directly to the right

• WHEN: Friday through Sunday until March 23

• INFORMATION: For ticket reservations, email jgeller@mchenry.edu; visit mchenry.edu/blackbox