Liz Conrad originally submitted a small musical for consideration for Kent State University at Trumbull's 2024-25 season.
Kent-Trumbull wanted something bigger, and more than 30 performers will fill its stage for "Legally Blonde: The Musical," which opens tonight and runs for eight performances.
"They wanted something to bring in the college kids," Conrad said. "I've always been in love with 'Legally Blonde,' so when it was offered to me, I jumped at the chance. It's such a good musical, and it hasn't been done here for a long time, so I thought it's a good thing, and it just worked out perfectly."
Like many Broadway musicals these days, "Legally Blonde" is based on a movie, the 2001 Reese Witherspoon comedy about Elle Woods, a blonde sorority member who enrolls in Harvard Law School after her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, dumps her because he has political aspirations and Elle is too Marilyn Monroe and not enough Jackie Bouvier Kennedy.
At Harvard, Elle proves there is more to her than just perfectly coiffed
hair and an all-pink wardrobe.
"It's a funny show and very empowering," Conrad said. "It's really about women coming into their own and being more than what's expected of them."
The musical version, featuring songs by Laurence O'Keefe and Neill Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach, ran for nearly 600 performances on Broadway in 2007-08 and received seven Tony nominations. It also inspired an MTV reality series "Legally Blonde: The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods," which turned hiring a replacement for original cast star Laura Bell Bundy into a televised competition.
Conrad had no trouble getting her large cast. She had more actors audition than she had roles for, and the auditions drew local talent as well as performers from the outlying area.
"I had way too many show up. It was fantastic," she said. "I have talent from literally all over. The girl who is playing Vivienne (Warner's new, more politician-appropriate girlfriend), Karina Moran, she came from Akron, and her talent is absolutely formidable. Karlina Wander is my Elle, and she's from the Akron area as well. She's the perfect Elle Woods. She is everything that I could have hoped for. My Warner is exactly who I would have wanted.I had my dream cast from day one."
The cast also features Robert Brandon Runnion, Harmon Andrews, Samuel Darrin, Jojo Garcia, Ashley Milligan-Smith, Mckenna Lago, Jessica Ludovici, Rachael Conrad, Aset Jones-Bey, Trudi Herrholtz, Parker Paniagua, Dakota Smith, David Tuttle, Zavier Rubante, Jonathan Bahrey, Nate Chapline, Demitri McMinn, Jose Garcia, Dana Brown, Steve Brown, Kat Roman, Hannah Kile, Rachelle Hamilton, Emily Slusarz, Emma Woodyard, Leona Chapline, Carly DelliQuadri, Kaitlyn Shaffer, Katie Kurtziel and Alyssa Moore.
Many of the actors do double duty, assisting in the many set changes throughout the show.
"My set designer, Kenzie James, is just a genius," Conrad said. "She and I sat down over the summer and we talked about what we wanted for the base of the set and then how to make all of the scene transitions happen. Because there's a lot of complicated scene transitions. I'm lucky enough to have a large enough cast to incorporate those scene transitions into the music. So we have moving pieces, moving parts, and hopefully it'll go as seamlessly as I see it in my head. But her design is absolutely perfect. Her color choices, the thematics that I had asked for are all incorporated. So it's pretty amazing all the little things that have gone into the set design and moving around and changing the environment for the story."
Matt White is the music director for "Legally Blonde" with Baz Wenger as tech director, Jessica Brumfield as stage manager, Kim Gapinski as costume designer and Cordell Ramsey as lighting designer.
Conrad and choreographer Makenna Liller-Dahman also added a dance team to the cast for the musical numbers involving Elle's sorority sisters in Delta Nu.
"That dance team really brings the whole show to another level," Conrad said. "It's pretty complicated, but it's been a joy."
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 17.
WHERE: Kent State University at Trumbull, 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW, Champion.
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for students and senior citizens and $15 for children ages 12 and younger and are available online at www.kent.edu/trumbull/theatre and by calling 330-675-8887.