As the cast of Elon University’s fall mainstage musical, “Legally Blonde,” came on stage to take their final bows, the audience rose out of their seats to give the actors a standing ovation.
Morgan Brady was at the show to support her brother sophomore Kyle Brady, who plays Your Majesty and is the understudy for Kyle,the UPS man. Morgan said she was a fan of the movie and musical prior to attending this show and Elon’s production met all of her expectations.
“I was expecting it to be upbeat, loud and fun, and I got all of that,” Morgan said.
The opening musical number, “Omigod You Guys” got the crowd prepared for what was to come with its sorority girl pep, fun dance moves and shopping mall emergency that introduced the main character, Elle Woods, played by senior Emily Stober.
Whitney Goodman, professor of performing arts at Elon, came to see the musical to support several of her students who are performing in it. While there isn’t any tap in the show — the subject Goodman teaches —, several of the songs had extensive choreography. The number “Whipped Into Shape” even required actors to sing and jump rope at the same time.
Goodman said she enjoyed seeing her students on stage.
“I love all the camaraderie on stage and how well they work together,” Goodman said.
The whole cast was in tune with each other, with Meghan Renfroe — program assistant for Elon’s department of nursing — even noting the actors' expressions and reactions to what others on stage said and did as one of her favorite parts of the show.
“We saw two musicals at Elon last year and so we had relatively high expectations, but this exceeded everything,” Renfroe said.
One actor that especially stood out to the audience was senior Kelli Geiger, who plays Paulette, Elle’s quirky and hilarious friend that works at a salon.
Senior Bodin Farace and Elon alum Quinn Hammond ’24 are friends of Geiger’s who came to see her perform.
Both Farace and Hammond agreed Geiger was their favorite actor on stage, with Farace highlighting how well she embodied the character of Paulette.
“Her sense of humor really came through on stage and I think she just really killed it,” Hammond said. “It really fits her personality well and I think that came through well in the character.”
Farace and Hammond both mentioned “Bend and Snap” as being one of their favorite musical numbers. Attendee Amiah Mutanuka, who had never seen the show or movie before, said she felt similarly.
Attendee Eli Fischer went even further simply stating that he most enjoyed every scene Paulette was in.
In addition to Geiger, each cast member brought their A-game to their performances.
“Everything was on point,” Mutanuka said.
Attendee Maya Diaz had also never seen an Elon show before, although she had seen other productions of “Legally Blonde.”.
“I expected it to be really good, and it was even better than I thought it was going to be,” Diaz said.
The remaining “Legally Blonde” performances are Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 in McCrary Theatre. Seats are extremely limited. Tickets are $15 or free with an Elon ID and can be purchased online.