La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts – May 10, 2025
OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS! What a fun show this is. My sister-in-law was visiting from out of town. I asked if she wanted to do any of the regular stuff – translation Disneyland – and I could hear my brother in the background saying, “Tell her you want to see a show.” I looked to see what was playing and settled on Legally Blonde at the La Mirada Theatre. I couldn’t find discount tickets, but full price tickets were fairly reasonable, especially for the side balcony. I got tickets as close to the center as I could without paying for center and other than the tall guy in the seat in front of me, they were pretty good. There was no one sitting in the seat next to me closer to center, so I could have moved but decided to just crane my neck. At least I could lean into the next seat over to see over him.
We had another event earlier in the day and ran home to change our clothes and then jumped in the car with the plan to get to the theater and then look for something to eat. There is a strip mall with several choices that shares a very large parking lot with the theater so we googled them all and settled on the one with the best reviews. It was a sushi place and was very, very good and surprisingly inexpensive. I got a bento with soup, salad, rice, sushi, teriyaki beef, and a crunch roll for $21. My sister-in-law doesn’t eat fish and was quite pleased with the non-fish options in her bento. After our leisurely dinner, we headed to the theater and got parked (parking is plentiful and free) and seated with plenty of time to spare.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know the plot of Legally Blonde. The musical was very well done with the sorority girls acting as ensemble and Greek chorus. It was well acted, well choreographed and well sung. My sister-in-law was surprised that there were live musicians. I guess I just expect live music when I go to a show. What surprised me was that they had a real dog on stage playing Bruiser and Bruiser garnered several “Aw”s from the audience. What a cutie! Our Elle Wood, Kathryn Brunner has apparently made a living off of playing Elle and Ella with several credits in Legally Blonde and Cinderella productions. She pulled off the part beautifully. If I had to pick a standout, I’d say it was the Jennifer Coolidge role of Pauline played by Anthea Neri Best. She was fantastic! And oh man, the UPS guy totally STOLE the show! If I had to pick a favorite number, I’d choose Gay or European. It just had me laughing so hard. If I had to pick one flaw, I’d say that there were a couple of numbers that could have been tap numbers but weren’t. I am a believer that every musical should include a tap number because I’m never unhappy after watching people tap. In the end though, I went in full and happy and left a little less full but no less happy. It’s playing through this weekend, so grab tickets if you can!