General News
5 February, 2024
Locals ‘bend and snap’ in W’bool
THIRTEEN of the Corangamite area’s actors, musicians and theatre staff flooded Warrnambool with sparkling pink as they took part in the Holiday Actors’ production of ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ earlier this month.
Legally Blonde: The Musical is a stage adaption of the 2001 film of the same name.
The plot centres on Elle Woods, who signs up for Harvard Law school to win her boyfriend back.
Ellie then challenges stereotypes after successfully passing the Harvard Law school submission process, with the musical following her as she faces challenges in her new world.
The performances ran from January 6 to 14 at Warrnambool’s Lighthouse Theatre.
Madidi McKenzie, who played the lead role Ellie Woods, said she knew many of her fellow actors through other performances.
“Lots of them I knew from the school production that we did; Elli Collins, Jess McDonald, Mataea and I, we all did The Addams Family with Mercy regional College,” she said.
“Because I had done Holiday Actors, I told them they should come down and join me.
“Mercy (Rothman) and I did Camperdown Theatre Company with, so she also knew about Holiday Actors.
“We all went down; it was really good to have so many people from Camperdown that we knew. We did a bit of carpooling, so we all helped out getting down to Warrnambool and getting back from Warrnambool to Camperdown.”
Alongside Ms McKenzie was Elli Collins, who was an ensemble member, Mercy Rothman, Matea McKenzie and Jess McDonald, who all played Delta Nu members and were featured dancers.
Other locals who joined the production included Camperdown Lakes and Craters Band’s Jane McSween on keyboard, Izzy Rohan playing the flute and percussionist Dean Mulholland.
Auditions for ‘Legally Blonde’ were held in September last year, with rehearsals beginning the next month in preparation.
Michael McKenzie, Peter MacDonald, Penny MacDonald, Louise Rothman and Toby McKenzie all helped behind the scenes to make the production successful, with many Camperdown people buying tickets and supporting the show.
Ms McKenzie said she was touched by the amount of people that bought tickets from her hometown.
“I feel so grateful, because it means it shows true community spirit that so many people wanted to come and support us,” she said.
“It was really fun to see lots of people I knew in the audience and see them afterwards.
“We all loved it; it was lots of fun.”
Ms McKenzie said it was good to be performing with others from her area that shared her love for musical theatre.
“We all share the love for it, so it was really good to have another opportunity to get on stage and meet new people,” she said.
“Legally Blonde also has such a fun soundtrack, so we had so much fun dancing and singing to all those songs.”