Taking On Elle Woods

Lead actor/performer Stacie Hobbs is talking from the "pointy end" of the preparation process for Savoyards' staging of Legally Blonde The Musical. As opening night approaches she's a bit frantic but also in fine form, getting ready to show the Brisbane Musical Theatre community the musical version of the popular film-cum-stage show. "It's the same basic story line, and your favourite characters [from the film] are still the same, but in the show they're all developed a bit more. Elle, the nail technician, and Emmett, he's much more developed than in the film — he originally just pops his head in, in this show they really work together a bit," Hobbs explains.

"Elle's like a modern day Eliza really, so having played both characters it's nice to be able to see the relationship and similarities between both."

Like many film-to-stage shows, this is an excuse to draw in existing fans, but also a chance to create more than a 90-minute film may allow. This development is something that Hobbs thinks particularly suits in this case. "You know, it's fun, I think there are some really, really clever lines in the songs," Hobbs explains. Although the group had a choice of the Broadway or West End version show, they've chosen the West End because the production is "a bit more British" in its humour —  but the difference between the two versions is really small. In both cases the show has been really successful to huge crowds, based largely on the appeal of the story and its protagonist.

In order to get her head around this role and how will appeal to a local audience, Hobbs has been able to draw on previous experience playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. "The characters as quite similar in that they're both quite determined young women and they worked really, really hard to make a new life for themselves. Elle's like a modern day Eliza really, so having played both characters it's nice to be able to see the relationship and similarities between both even though they are set in very different times."

The demands of musical theatre are huge, with performers needing to give a strong acting and singing performance. Mere mortals might find the need to focus on one at a time (or try for one and hope the other follows!), but in Hobbs' experience it works best to tackle a part all at once. "It all happens together," she says by way of prepping sound and vision. "I've done lots of work with my vocal coach and our director, really this song is very 'sung through'. It's not 'scene' and then 'song', a lot of the story happens in the songs. So, if you drop the character you drop the show, but I'm very much into getting drawn into it all to stay in character. So I've been buying up so much pink for my wardrobe..." she trails, laughing. "I really immerse myself in the scenes and there's really no difference between the speaking scenes and the singing scenes, it's all just part of the story."