Legally Blonde on Stage at SHS this weekend

Oh my god, Oh my god you guys! Legally Blonde is at the High School! Directed by seniors Kimmy Rothberg, and Musical Director Noah Li, Legally Blonde: The Musical will be this year's senior class play. I was able to catch up with Kimmy and Noah to discuss the play, which will be on stage this weekend on Friday, Saturday at Sunday at SHS.

The Play stars Danielle Cohen and Andrew Pollack as Elle Woods and Emmett Richmond, as well as Nicole Brenner and Robert Hoffman as Vivian Kensington and Warner Huntington III.

Rothberg and Li chose to produce Legally Blonde over more traditional choices like Grease and The Wizard of Oz. The decision garnered support from the students, and slight opposition from the faculty. As Director Kimmy Rothberg explained, "The faculty wanted us to edit it, and remove some scenes. We cut some things, and it is now appropriate for all ages." Noah Li added, "The students really like it, it's a great show, students don't really need to go very far to get into character for the show, its very relatable." Obviously its not always in the best interest for the show to have split views by the faculty and students, but a relatable show becomes more enjoyable for the audience, and for the actors and actresses involved. That is really what the senior class play is all about. Furthermore, as Noah explained, "A lot of us grew up with the movie, so its exciting to put it on as the play." With the scene changes, the play should be familiar to teens, while also appropriate for all ages.

Both Kimmy and Noah faced a set of challenges to put on the show, but both have risen to the occasion. Initially they had to rehearse in the Little Theatre, rather than the auditorium. "Putting rehearsals on the stage was difficult, as we had to make changes when we saw the set. We were in the Little Theater for the first six weeks." She also commented on the scene changes, "It's hard to do the scene changes, because it's the crew's first times seeing the show, so that is a challenge." In order to meet and overcome these issues, the two said that they needed to "alter [their] mindsets" as Noah put it, "Kimmy is used to the drama club, and I'm used to people who are very familiar with music, but a lot of these seniors have never really sung or danced before in a big production." Kimmy commented on her transformation; "I've learned to have more patience, and change my outlook, I used to stress too much over the little things, now I have taken a step back." Neither of them "has had to run rehearsals with the amount of people in this show" nor had they ever had experience with this particular show before, yet they both agreed that it was "not a challenge to coordinate, because we break up the rehearsals, dance and music at different times, so specific times for different parts."

Spotty attendance at rehearsals has proven to be a continuing problem. Kimmy said, "For seniors the play is more of a second, third, or fourth priority," Noah added, "We expected that we could have a pretty specific schedule, but then, sometimes things just happen." At first, schoolwork, sports and extracurricular activities competed for rehearsal time and they were unable to get everybody at every rehearsal. This was one of the reasons that the two decided to split up the rehearsals, as they knew that it would be difficult to "get the cast together because of conflicts, we have yet to have the full cast together" Kimmy stated. When school ended and Senior Options began, the attendance improved and the rehearsals were moved to later in the evenings. But 'The show must go on!' And it has, as rehearsals have improved in time for this weekend's performances.

The two directors are optimistic about the experience. Kimmy commented, "I was able to become closer with people who weren't really my friends before, even this late in my high school experience." Noah went on to explain, "At the end of the day, its this opportunity for the senior class to bond with each other. It takes these seniors that you know, were in math class yesterday, and now they are an ensemble. It's a great chance to get to know people better, and to become closer... Its sort of this cross-pollination of the music departments, you don't normally have trumpets playing with violins, playing with a rock band, and playing under singers. And not to mention this repertoire is something we don't normally get to play, so its new stuff with new people, its exciting."

Come check out the play this weekend May 29, 30 and 31 at the Scarsdale High School Auditorium. Be sure to buy tickets here. The play is at 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30, and 2pm Sunday May 31. Tickets are $10 for students and children, and $15 for adults.