Over the course of the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th of April, AAHS’s theatrical department put on a spectacular performance of Legally Blonde –The Musical, directed by Ms. Manst.

The show follows Elle Woods (played by Shelby Thompson), a ditzy blonde Delta Nu from UCLA, as she chases her love, Warner Huntington III (Tyler Hightchew), to Harvard Law after he doesn’t propose. She struggles to not flunk out of law school – which she is totally unprepared for – in attempts to prove to Warner that she is “serious”… just like Warner’s new girlfriend, Vivienne (Rebecca Walker).  The teaching assistant, Emmett Forest (Aidan Diffee), takes Elle under his wing and completely transforms her into a diligent law student, one that’s good enough to win an internship with professor “blood-thirsty” Callahan (Alex VanRemortel), alongside Vivienne, Warner, and Enid (Ashley McAdam). She also befriends the local barber, Paulette (Lauren Edgell), who proves to be one of Elle’s strongest supporters. Callahan assigns the interns to the case of Brooke Wyndham (Maddie Storer) who is accused of murdering her husband. Elle is kicked off the team when she refuses to submit to Callahan and returns to work for Brooke, dolled up in pink (versus boring black and white), with Emmett as an overseer.  With her knowledge of hair, Elle successfully wins the case for Brooke. Three years later, Elle ends up as valedictorian of her class, Enid is practicing family law, Vivienne is training for the Peace Corps, Warner (now rejected by both Vivienne and Elle) is pursuing modeling, Emmett was hired to handle Callahan’s divorce, and Paulette is happily married to the UPS man, Kyle (Rex Olson). At the end of graduation, Elle proposes to Emmett, who says yes, and the show comes to an end.

All of the actors – plus the pit orchestra (conducted by Ms. Scollin), the audio crew (directed by Mr. Hoit), the lighting crew, and the backstage helpers – put an immense amount of effort into making this production successful.

“I practiced every day after school for the last four months,” says Tyler Hightchew (Warner), who is echoed by Lauren Edgell (Paulette), Aidan Diffee (Emmett), and Savannah Burns (Serena, an UCLA cheerleader). Surprisingly, some of these students have never immersed themselves into such a time-consuming project; “I’ve never been in a production like this before. I’ve done Montage in the past where I had to act on a smaller scale, but I have never had to play such a big role; it’s really been a great experience,” says Aidan.  On the other hand, Lauren (Legally Blonde was her 12^th show at AAHS) is an experienced veteran. Even then, however, it still takes a lot of practice to get the role right. “The (Boston) accent was actually the hardest part for me,” says Lauren. “When I started out, it was pretty awful, but I just practiced it when I was in the car alone or whatever and eventually it sounded decent. Shelby (Elle) actually helped me a lot. She would say words I couldn’t do and I would repeat after her.”

A ton of work happens behind the curtain as well, though. “It’s a musical so there is a lot of setup involved,” says Zachary Scott, a manager in the set crew. “The biggest thing is trying to figure out what we can do with what we have because we don’t like being wasteful. If we can reuse old set pieces or wood, then we do.” The set was put together by Mr. Hoit, and then about halfway through the building process, the work on the lights began. After sitting through a week’s worth of rehearsal, Zachary Scott and Jack Walker (the stage manager) went through all of the light sequences and made sure they were programmed correctly. The work on sound didn’t begin until dress rehearsal (about two weeks out). “The most important thing you need for tech, like the most important, are hardworking and good people. We have amazing people, like Michelle Green and Sam Fobes, who are in charge of backstage. In the booth, I’m working with some amazing freshmen who have worked so hard to figure out how the (sound) board works as well as how lighting design works. These are difficult jobs that require so much patience.”

Credit must also be given to the orchestra who produced all of the music for the show. “We’ve been rehearsing since January,” says Stephanie Ward, a violinist. “There was rehearsal 2-3 days a week before Spring Break and every day after.” Ms. Scollin conducted a pit of 16 people, including everything from a drummer to a guitarist to two pianists (they played on a keyboard because the piano won’t fit below the stage). The two-hour long show consisted of 40 different songs that these musicians were required to learn – the best were chosen for this commitment.

Even the tiniest contribution can make the biggest difference in the process of putting on a production like this. Here’s to everyone involved in getting Legally Blonde on the stage: great job Kadets – way to make our school proud!