SVCT show begins this Friday, plays for four weekends
Published in the Feb. 19 – March 4, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Cast members playing sorority girls go through a dress rehearsal for “Legally Blonde,” the musical, which opens Feb. 21 and runs through March 9.
A “ditsy” young woman goes to Harvard University and discovers her true self as she tries to win back her boyfriend by earning a law degree in “Legally Blonde,” the South Valley Civic Theater’s latest teen musical show starting Friday.
The romantic comedy story provides young girls with a lot of positive messages about their self-identity, one of the reasons it was selected by the SVCT’s board of directors, said Robin Bezanson, the show’s co-producer with Roberta Vinkhuyzen Rasmussen .
“I think it’s very empowering for the females, for the girls in the audience,” she said. “I think it’s entertaining for the audience as a whole. It shows a young lady who is looking for the wrong things but realizes the strength in herself and realizes who she really is and that she’s capable and able to do the things she chooses to do.”
The show also has humorous scenes to entertain the males in the audience, Bezanson said. “It’s just a very all-around exciting, fun show,” she said. “The music is excellent, it’s really good. I find myself singing it all through the day.”
Oakwood School senior Baily Konold, 17, plays “Elle Woods,” the leading female role who starts off her college career majoring in fashion merchandising. “I’m kind of a ditsy blonde girl at the beginning who has a really clear sense of who she is,” she said, describing Elle’s character. “And that kind of gets shaken up when she follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard and she finds out that she’s got a lot more potential than she thought. She follows that and realizes she’s an awesome person and great at law.”
As Elle discovers her true self, she grows more independent and moves on to bigger and better things in life, Konold said.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Baily Konold, an Oakwood School senior, plays the lead of Elle Woods, in South Valley Civic Theater’s production of “Legally Blonde.”
Konold, who wants to major in nursing when she goes to college, has performed in nine different shows throughout her school years but hasn’t been a central character since she was in sixth grade. Playing the role of Elle has helped her get a better sense of how “not to be in the background” any more but be more of an extrovert.
“When I started with the show, I think I struggled a lot with my being toned down because that’s the kind of person I am. That’s kind of my background,” she said. “And Elle’s kind of just out there and in your face, and so I’ve had to learn to do that. It’s enhanced my own character by being more outgoing.”
Many young people don’t connect to the classical musical show and so “Legally Blonde,” with its more modern style of music, can serve as a gateway musical that gets them into the theater art form where they can build an appreciation for some of the classics as well, said director Andrew Cummings.
“It’s a show that I’ve liked for a long time,” he said. “I was very excited that the (SVCT) board picked it because this is a fun show and very appropriate for this age group.”
Although the show’s story is a light-hearted one, Cummings said he was “pretty aggressive” about preparing the performers for “Legally Blonde” because of its demanding nature.
“It’s actually one of the most difficult productions that we’ve had the kids do for a number of years,” he said. “It just has a lot of high levels of acting and singing and dance all at the same time. … With this show, they’ve all got to be triple threats, so we’ve really been pushing them hard.”
SHOW TIMES
Dates: 8 p.m. Friday Feb. 21, 28, March 7 and 14; 8 p.m. Saturday Feb. 22, March 1, 8 and 15; 2:30 p.m. Sunday March 2 and 9.
Location: Morgan Hill Community Playhouse, 17090 Monterey Road.
