THEATRE REVIEW

MAY 2026 | Volume 263

 

The Vancouver region’s musical theatre talent is on full display this early May with four musicals currently running, none of them with full Equity casts. This weekend alone (I’m writing this on May 10 – Happy Mother’s Day!) saw the opening of Legally Blonde: The Musical and Grease (I’ll see it tonight) with a total of 46 performers, 15 musicians and two dogs. The sheer numbers are staggering and the talent abundant. Aren’t we lucky.

Metro Theatre’s season-closer, Legally Blonde, with direction by Christopher King, musical direction by Marquis Byrd and choreography by Makayla Moore, wrings just about every ounce of cute and spunky from the show. Celeste Nicholson makes a splendid Vancouver debut as Elle Woods and the second act, especially, showcases just how clever and dynamic this--let’s face it--lightweight musical can be.

The guys are fine. Daniel Curalli as Harvard Law School good guy Emmett takes top honours, while Stephen Myers makes Warner the bad boyfriend appropriately smarmy. Matt Ramer’s Professor Callahan is the shark whose pool you shouldn’t want to swim in, and Liam Reitsma gets the Audience Choice award as the big, sexy UPS guy in tight shorts. Kudos to Juan Guillermo Preciado and Iverson Rupido, too, as pool boy and friend at the trial.

But this show belongs to the young women: Jessica Lynn Wong as Elle’s nemesis Vivienne, Julia Halabourda’s loyal salonista Paulette (with one of the strongest voices in the cast), Julia Ullrich as fitness coach/defendant Brooke, whose “Whipped into Shape” jump rope dance number is a highlight, and the large chorus of Elle’s Delta Nu sorority sisters. The three who show up as Elle’s inner Greek chorus—Holly Bradbury, Maraya Franca and Claudine Paed—light up the stage every time they appear.

Nicholson nicely sells both Elle’s comic innocence and her inner strength. She’s a good singer, her dancing is a pleasure to watch, and does she ever look spectacular in Carson Walliser’s costumes. Moore’s choreography makes all the dancers look great.

My only real complaint—and if you read my reviews, you’ve heard this before, over and over—is that the band is too loud: the musical volume sometimes overwhelms the vocals to make the lyrics inaudible despite the singers being miked. This is especially problematic in places where the songs provide exposition or explanation. But really, we should be able to hear and understand the lyrics and appreciate the quality of the voices everywhere; the instruments should remain in the background, underneath, as inconspicuous aurally as they are visually to the audience.

 

 

 

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