Caledonia Secondary School's seasonal musical took centre stage at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre from Dec. 12-14.
Directed by Graham Wojdak, Legally Blonde the Musical tells the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who enrolls at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. Very few characters have faith in Elle, but she defies expectations and shows the power the law has to help others.
The show was euphoric, from excellent choreography done by Reagan Ippel, to the classic songs written and composed by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin. The audience hung onto every scene. The only qualm with the show was the sound quality of the dialogue.
There were three mics set up dangling from the top of the stage and they were not picking up people's voices well. The orchestra, while conducted very well by Jacquelynne Amendt, also slightly drowned out the dialogue.
Elle was played by Thayna Healey, whose portrayal was bubbly, hilarious and heart-wrenching, everything the role asks for. For Healey, she did not need to "get into character" when it came to playing Elle.
"I see in my head how a character is meant to be portrayed or seen and I just do it. I find acting to be very natural, which is why I don't have to think much when I do it," she said. "I just know that I am not Thayna, and every movement I make is what Elle Woods would do. So every little aspect of me on stage is Elle, to how I stand, walk, and make facial expressions."
As the lead role, a lot was asked of Healey and she delivered.
"Elle is known as a difficult role as she is constantly on stage. Doing a role like this is definitely taxing on the mental and physical well-being of a person," Healey said. "I never missed a rehearsal, which are six days a week for three months, and actually lost my voice for four days the week before opening night."
Healey shared she had three rehearsals where she would stand on stage unable to speak and the choreographers would speak her lines while she moved and acted on stage.
"That was definitely stressful for me as I wasn't sure I'd have my voice back for opening night. It did come back two nights before opening night, but it was definitely injured from pushing it to perform like that, and I am certainly feeling the backlash of it now," she said.
"The entire process is honestly an exhausting time, but it's so worth it," said Healey with respect to having the lead in a musical. "I have an entire cast of people who look up to me, and are supporting me. My main goal as lead was to make everyone involved know I care about and will support them."
In the musical, one of the characters that always supported Elle was Paulette the aesthetician, who was played by Kaz Lord-Braid.
"Becoming Paulette was something I experienced throughout all of the musical and even during performance," she said. "I was always learning new things about her character. I spent a lot of time reading through the script and thinking about her hopes and dreams (which she had many of) while I was running lines and blocking,
"She was a character with a lot of spunk and comedic remarks in the show, which made making scenes like the rescue of her dog Rufus quite important to be able to make her a round character. I had to think about not only her happy and fun moments, but those that aren’t shown on stage, such as her struggle with loneliness and abandonment."
Lord-Braid shared she wasn't easy to connect with at first.
"Paulette and I have a major age difference, myself as a teenager and her in her mid-thirties. She has experienced things that I have not, but she taught me things too — things that I will always hold close to my heart."
Lord-Braid received raucous applause each night for her performances of "Ireland" and "Ireland Reprise," which are incredibly important songs to Paulette.
"She is baring her heart to the audience and telling them not only her story now, but her dreams for her future that she thinks are lost causes," Lord-Braid explained. "The two are very emotional songs and I doubt I could ever get tired of performing them live. I get swept up in the power the two songs hold, especially the reprise, and hearing the audience’s response to my performance of them was like nothing I could have imagined."
"It’s cliche to say, honestly, but I don’t think I will ever be able to properly put into words how it felt to stand on that stage and receive applause like that. I definitely struggled not to break character and I was nearly in tears the first night as I came offstage. Every performer dreams of having that kind of a reaction and to receive it for a character and song I put my heart and soul into conveying properly. It was a dream come true."
A favourite scene of both Healey's and Lord-Braid's was "Bend and Snap," which was full of energy and dancing.
"All the actors played off of one another's energy and it was just a joy to perform. I never worried about it because if all else failed, just having fun would make the scene perfect even with mistakes," said Lord-Braid.
Lord-Braid's favourite scene was after the lawyer party.
"It’s such a contrast to see the positive, smiling woman defeated and willing to give up everything she had worked for. That scene made me tear up every time I watched it from behind stage," she expressed.
"The rawness in Thayna’s voice as she sang, the emotion portrayed in her entire body — it was not only impressive, but heart wrenching. I think it was one of the most masterful pieces of theatre I’ve seen honestly."
Healey shared that getting to play Elle in Legally Blonde the Musical was particularly special as the main message of the story is rooted in feminism.
"Seeing all the young girls in the musical in Grade 10 or 11 that look up to me as a role model, I feel really honoured knowing I can be an example for them. I think every young girl should have a strong female role model in their life, showing them to stand up for themselves and to be who they are," she said. "From Elle to Vivian, to Paulette, and Enid, you see these strong female characters played by strong young women that young girls can look up to and feel inspired."
Both Healey and Lord-Braid intend to continue pursuing musical theatre, whether on a community or professional level. Lord-Braid said she intends to work toward a doctorate and pursue forensic sciences as she is a big STEM enthusiast.
"I would lead a very lovely life if I could always have a bit of theatre in it," shared Lord-Braid.
Everyone was a star in their role, from the women who played the cheerleaders and Greek chorus, including Ellys Hayes, Ana Purita, Topaz Miller, Miniel David, Sequoia Wood, Elsabe Stabber-van der Walt and Chloe Eastman, as well as, Ben Carter's portrayal of Warner, Tomas Grier's portrayal of Professor Callahan and Finley Hayes' portrayal of Emmett.
However, the real star of the show was Sasha the Chocolate Lab, who played Bruiser. Her tail-wagging stole the show and the hearts of the audience.
