Bruiser Woods had us in the palm of his hands, appearing as he did quite early on in the musical, Legally Blonde, which started its run at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening.
I should say the palm of his paws as Bruiser is a teeny chihuahua, performing as Sprout, the pet of the star of the show, Elle Woods (Amber Davies).
We, in the packed theatre, melted instantly as soon as he appeared. Also eliciting “ahs” from the audience later on was a real bruiser of a dog called Rufus, playing the part of Rocco.
Two gorgeous pooches – what’s not to love?
This new production of Legally Blonde, based on the award-winning 2001 film, centres around University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) student, Elle, who, expecting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, fellow student Warner (Jamie Chatterton), instead gets dumped. He’s off to Harvard and for snobby reasons doesn’t think his parents would be pleased at him dating someone who he thinks has half his brain power.
Rising to the challenge, Elle determines to win him back by enrolling to get into Harvard herself. And she does (there wouldn’t be a story unless I’d revealed this bit).
Her very energetic and colourfully dressed sorority sisters – Margot (Hannah Lowther), Serena (Rosanna Harris) and Pilar (Remi Ferdinand) encourage her all the way, dancing and singing at every opportunity.
Also always geeing her along is the eccentric and amusing Paulette (Keanna Bloomfield), a kind-hearted manicurist, local salon owner and confidante.
Elle has a penchant for pink and stands out like a sore, but very pretty, thumb on her first day at Harvard, dressed head to toe in pink and carrying Sprout.
Finding herself in the same class as Warner, she is shocked to discover he already has another girlfriend – the more soberly dressed Vivienne (Annabelle Terry), who, at their first meeting shows her disdain for Elle at every toss and turn.
The hero of the hour, in my book, is fellow student Emmett (George Crawford), who supports Elle in every way he can, even when she despairingly feels like chucking it all in. He is my fave character, apart from the dogs (sorry George), who shows Elle kindness and care throughout.
University professor Callahan (Adam Cooper), though dismissive of Elle at first, gradually sees her potential (or so we thought, the slime ball – oops, spoiler alert).
When a huge and very important murder case arises, he chooses Elle as part of his defence team.
The woman on trial, Brooke Wyndham (Lauren Hampton), professes her innocence and Elle believes her – but will she have Callahan’s belief in her at first or enough clout in the courtroom if she is still in the defence team as the trial progresses.
The biggest thing to admire about Elle is that she never changes her style to fit in with the Harvard snobs (excluding the lovely Emmett).
The girl proves she is not just a pretty face and shows the world, including that cad Warner, that she can succeed on her own merit.
From pink fashionista to pink legal ace, the only thing that’s changed is her belief in herself and her standing in the Harvard legal cabal – all in the name of love.
There isn’t a boring or dull moment in this ultimate, feel-good rom-com; it’s colourful, noisy, amusing and energetic thanks to a boisterous cast who sing and dance to wonderful music courtesy of talented musicians playing live, directed by Cerys McKenna.
Sometimes I found the female voices a wee bit brittle in tone; their singing was great, but maybe the sound level was a wee bit high (or it could just be my ears). I had no problem with the male singing voices though.
Amber Davies in the lead role sang and danced throughout and I’m not at all surprised she was once a Strictly Come Dancing finalist.
She looked beautiful and fitted the role to a T.
Bloomfield could also belt out a tune as manicurist Paulette, and provided much amusement with her actions, especially when confronted with her secret crush, UPS delivery man, the dishy Kyle (Ty-Reece Stewart), who also made us laugh with his dance moves.
Aaron Shales as feminist law student Enid is skeptical of Elle at first but comes to respect and befriend her. Enid and fellow student Carlos (Bradley Delarosbel) complete the main cast.
Carlos, described as a “stylish European-type man” is central to a really amusing scene in which it comes to light in court that he is secretly dating the pool boy of the accused in the murder trial.
And the cast’s rendition of “Gay or European” is a highlight.
The magnificent stage setting varied from palm trees in the sun, to multiple frames edged in bright lights, a beauty salon, gym, classroom, courtroom and so on.
I liked the way the scene shifters cleverly moved the setting around, while our attention was on whichever members of the cast were on stage at the time. It was seamless.
Director Nikolai Foster couldn’t have wrung more energy out of this cast, who gave their all.
As the audience stood to applaud their achievement, ticker tape fell, even reaching me on row P.
A fun night all round.
Legally Blonde runs until Saturday, October 31st, 2026 at Hull New Theatre with tickets available from (01482) 300306 and www.hulltheatres.co.uk
Reviewer: Jackie Foottit
Reviewed: 27th October 2026
North West End UK Rating: