‘Legally Blonde’ opens at Marriott

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Chelsea Packard as Elle Woods

‘Legally Blonde’

Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire

1 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sundays, through March 25

$40-$48

(847) 634-0200 or visit www.MarriottTheater.com

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Updated: January 27, 2012 10:45AM

A Valley Girl proves she’s more than just a shopping machine in “Legally Blonde,” the Tony-nominated musical, based on the hit 2001 movie starring Reese Witherspoon. The Marriott Theatre is staging the Heather Hach (book), Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin (music and lyrics) show which takes heroine Elle Woods (Chelsea Krombach) from partying at UCLA to being a serious student at Harvard Law School.

Three suburban musical theater talents help to tell Elle’s story.

Summer Naomi Smart of Oak Park plays Brooke. “Brooke has made millions on her exercise DVDs and books,” Smart said. “She’s an all-out, high energy exercise instructor who’s on trial in the show for the murder of her husband — which she did not commit.”

Convincing a jury that she is innocent might be a bit difficult because her husband was considerably older than Brooke and she could be perceived as a gold-digger.

Sisterly love

Brooke is a former member of Delta Nu, Elle’s sorority, but the two hadn’t met until Elle becomes a member of Brooke’s defense team. The two characters bond while singing “Delta Nu Nu Nu.” “I’m grateful that I have another sorority sister on my team,” Smart said.

Smart sings a song that’s the mantra of her exercise program, “Whipped into Shape.”

Smart said that one of the best things about being in this show is working with director/choreographer Marc Robin. “He moves quickly, he’s efficient, and he’s gathered together a really fantastic cast,” she said.

Gene Weygandt of Park Ridge plays Professor Callahan. “It’s always great to be the bad boy,” Weygandt joked of his character, who can sometimes be Elle’s worst nightmare.

“Professor Callahan runs a billion dollar law firm and is a full professor at Harvard law,” Weygandt said. “He is a complete shark and believes that’s the way the law profession ought to work. As a student, if your aim is to be something other than a shark, he doesn’t think it’s worth wasting his time on you.”

That lesson is emphasized in Callahan’s big number, “Blood in the Water.”

When Elle enters Callahan’s freshman law class, “He has enormous doubts about her and, in fact, throws her out of class the very first day,” Weygandt said. “But she continually surprises him along the way.”

Deerfield resident Laura Savage is an ensemble member and understudies the role of Pilar, one of Elle’s best friends. “I get to dance a lot and sing a whole lot,” Savage said.

On the ropes

When we spoke, the cast had taken a break from working on “Whipped into Shape,” a jump rope dance number led by Brooke, the fitness guru who is on trial for murder. “Literally we are jump-roping the entire time,” Savage said. “It takes a lot of endurance. We keep joking about having amazing bikini bodies by April.”

That’s not a problem for Savage, though, who is both a professional dancer and a former gymnast.

Savage, who described herself as a big Reese Witherspoon fan, revealed that she was in eighth grade when the movie version of “Legally Blond” came out. When she went to see the film, she dressed all in pink, because that was Elle’s favorite color. She also saw the musical when it ran on Broadway.

Savage thinks this story works particularly well as a musical. “I always want to see the main character triumph — really take a true journey,” she said. “And that’s what’s happening to Elle. She beats all the odds. She is this amazing person the whole time but because of superficial opinions you can’t see her for who she really is. It truly is about her journey and I think people root for that.”

Smart also believes the adaptation is a great success. “The characters are all so high energy and there’s such an assortment of colorful characters that they can step right into the world of musical theater,” she said.

“I think that the musicalization of this doesn’t take anything away from the story that’s in the film of a young woman reaching beyond what she thought she might be capable of,” Weygandt said. “But it adds an awful lot of fun and charm, and some silliness, and some great jokes. It’s a very clever score.”