Legally Blonde: Aylesbury Waterside Theatre (From The Oxford Times)

Legally Blonde: Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

2:37pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Theatre By Christopher Gray

Scene-stealing dogs in the mould of The Artist’s Uggie are all the rage at present, and pampered pooch Bruiser certainly wins all hearts in the hugely entertaining musical Legally Blonde. As portrayed by Animal Galore’s Pringle and Breezer — which one we saw on Tuesday was not made clear — he did not put a paw wrong all night. No need for the pink pound for him, then, I joked — appropriately in the context of this frothy show.

Pink is a predominant theme, being the “signature colour” of dizzy blonde sorority president Elle Woods (Faye Brookes) who crosses North America from California to study at Harvard Law School, in pursuit of her preppy boyfriend Warner Huntingdon III (Ray Quinn) who is also enrolled there.

The shameless campery that drenches the show reaches its climax during the hilarious court case in which Elle finally shows her mettle as a lawyer.

“Gay or European?” sing the whole company as Elle proves that tight-trousered swimming pool cleaner Nikos (Zak Nemorin) is without doubt the former and therefore clearly not the lover, as he claims, of fitness guru Brooke Wyndham (Hannah Grover), who is before the jury charged with murder.

The convoluted story (book by Heather Hach) closely follows that of the 2001 Reese Witherspoon film of the same name, itself adapted from Amanda Brown’s novel. To this have been added a generous number of tuneful — and often very witty — songs by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin.

A big hit on Broadway and in the West End (where its run continues until May), the show is earning further acclaim from this polished touring production under director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell and musical director Peter White.

Fay Brookes proves a winning heroine whom we are all delighted to see end up, not with Warner — he doesn’t even get snooty Vivienne (Charlotte Harwood) for whom he has jilted her — but with the much more likable Emmett (Iwan Lewis), an ambitious trainee lawyer without the benefit of the same happy accident of birth.

Stars of the show, though, are the brilliant Claire Sweeney as Elle’s scatty hairdresser confidante Paulette and another showbiz veteran — in comparison with the well-drilled kids around him — Les Dennis, as the law school’s acerbic, hard-driving teacher, Prof Callahan.

Until Saturday. Box office: telephone 0844 871 7607 (www.atgtickets.com/aylesbury).