Film & Theatre, Reviews | Posted on July 31st, 2026 | return to news

REVIEW: Legally Blonde

Bournemouth Musical Theatre Productions, Regent, Christchurch

By Luke Graham

There’s a famous show biz saying: never work with children or animals.

BMT Productions is braving the second part of that challenge with the company’s new show ‘Legally Blonde’ which features two canine co-stars, Huxley and Archie. Fortunately, the two pooches performed perfectly at Thursday night’s opening performance of this brilliant, funny and moving musical.

Based on a novel by Amanda Brown and (more famously) on the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, ‘Legally Blonde’ follows Elle Woods, a bright young woman dismissed by her peers as an airhead party girl. After being dumped by her boyfriend Warner for not being ‘serious’ enough for his political ambitions, she follows him to the prestigious Harvard Law School and proves everyone wrong. It’s a story about integrity, love and never judging a book by its cover.

It’s one of my personal favourite musicals ever since I saw it in the West End in the early 2010s, so I had high hopes. Thankfully, BMT Productions’ version, directed by Rob Arrowsmith, more than exceeded my expectations and have put together a highly polished, professional show.

‘Legally Blonde’ has a huge cast, so I can’t mention them all, but a special mention to the whole ensemble who did fantastically, especially with the incredible dance numbers put together by Beth Gibson-Green (who choreographed the show while pregnant!). These are some of the best dances I’ve seen on stage, from the acrobatic lifts and flips in a cheerleading number in Act One, to the high energy rope skipping in Act Two’s opening number. Well done to all the dancers!

On to the main cast, Megan Jones does incredibly well in the main role as Elle. It’s a demanding role as she’s on stage for almost the entire run-time, which demands a lot of stamina and quick-fire costume changes.

Thomas Critchell is perfectly cast as Elle’s love interest Emmett Forrest, winning over the audience with his charm and great singing voice.

Suzy Hill steals the show as the brash hairdresser Paulette. She is hilarious and delivers an excellent rendition of her solo number ‘Ireland’.

Chloe-Louisa Hughes shows off her incredible dancing skills as Brooke Wyndham in Act Two’s opening number ‘Whipped Into Shape’.
Well done to Rod Dorey, who brings a serious gravitas and baritone voice as the nasty lawyer Professor Callahan. And congratulations to Alastair Snell who does well in the demanding role of Warner Huntington III.

I have to mention the great production quality of the show as well, from the costumes (in every shade of pink imaginable) to the staging, which makes impeccable use of raised platforms and levels, and makes clever use of projections to seamlessly transition between scenes. The strip lighting and LED tubes are also well used to bathe the stage in neon colours. I was also impressed by the live band.

This is a fantastic feel-good musical with high entertainment value and is well worth your time. ‘Legally Blonde’ is on tonight and being performed twice on Saturday. Get your tickets from https://www.theregent.co.uk/.