Legally Blonde

Original Production by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, Dori Berinstein, James L. Nederlander, Independent Presenters Network, Roy Furman, Amanda Lipitz, Broadway Asia, Barbara Whitman, FWPM Group, Hendel/Wiesenfeld, Goldberg/Binder, Stern/Meyer, Lane/Comley, Bartner-Jenkins/Nocciolino and Warren Trepp; Produced in association with MGM Onstage, Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber.

Legally Blonde is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).  All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

Director Notes

Dear Fellow Audience Members,

Thank you so much for joining us for this year’s fall musical, Legally Blonde.

Our story spans 2003-2004 – a time when the Razr phone was invented, (The) Facebook was launched and a theme of irreverence and reality TV took hold of the American public while movies, media, and popular toys reinforced a gender binary in an era now remembered as a “misogynistic wasteland.” In politics, business, education, art, and more, the early 2000’s launched us into many of the great triumphs and challenges we face today, including the ever-repeating fear that younger generations will “want everything instantly.”

Fortunately and unfortunately, theatre continues to resist efficiency. Similar to other industries, the incorporation of technology can amplify artistry and increase production values, but has not reduced, and has possibly increased, the hours it takes to bring all the pieces into a cohesive whole.

Theatre reminds us of our interdependency. It reminds us that true collaboration requires hours of relationship building and waiting patiently as you repeat your role over and over so each department has the chance to get it right. We are always learning to work smarter, but there are no shortcuts to safely and thoroughly building the skills needed to put on a production as large and complex as Legally Blonde.

Rising to that challenge, the work that students and faculty onstage and off have poured into the production is nothing short of heroic. Faculty and student designers have worked on this show since April while concurrently designing the many other shows in our season. Student performers and stage management have rehearsed 25+ hours per week in addition to their usual classes and responsibilities since September 3rd.

Elon Performing Arts students onstage, backstage, in the costume/scene shop, and in the house preserve a legacy that reminds us that true craft takes time, ample disappointments, and pure hard work – I am in awe of their dedication, grit, thirst for excellence, athletic prowess, technical skills, artistic depth, and commitment to each other and their craft.

Thank you for coming to the theatre.

Thank you for supporting a bright future.

We are in good hands.

Sincerely,

Courtney Liu

Special Thanks

Brian Kremer, Caitlin Brooks, Elon Academic u Committee (ATC), Elon Performing Arts House Management Team, Jacob Brent, Julian Stetkevych, Kimberly Rippy, Luis Garay, Becca Patterson, and the Gender & LGBTQIA Center, Mike Smith, Seth Barrick, Tiffaney Coleman, Tyson Hankins