For the first two weekends in May, Stamford High’s Strawberry Hill Player’s put on a spectacular performance of Legally Blonde the Musical.

Elle Woods, played by AITE junior Lauryn Schiller, is the president of her sorority in her senior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in fashion merchandising and is in love with her boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, portrayed by senior Geoffrey Cahr. She expects him to propose to her, but instead she is heartbroken when he says he wants to be with someone more “serious,” since he plans to have a career in politics. He will be attending Harvard Law School the next year. Elle is desperate to win him back, so she takes the Law School Admission Test and is surprisingly accepted because of her live performance that convinced the admissions officers.  Once enrolled in Harvard, Elle is judged by the students because of her looks and stereotypical ‘blonde-girl’ behavior. She later finds out that Warner has proposed to another student on campus, Vivienne Kensington, played by junior Erin Maher. The only friends Elle makes are Paulette, a hairdresser and manicurist at a salon who was brought to life by senior Zoe Usowski, and Emmett Forrest, a young attorney who takes Elle under his wing portrayed by sophomore Bryce Drynan. Emmett helps Elle realize that she is at Harvard Law to become a successful lawyer, not to win Warner back. Now that Elle is determined and motivated to win the internship with her professor Callahan, played by senior William Hunt, nothing can stand in her way.

Some memorable scenes and songs were “Omigod You Guys,” the live performance for Elle’s admission into Harvard, “Bend and Snap,” and “Whipped into Shape.” The opening scene was “Omigod You Guys,” where Elle is telling her sorority sisters that she thinks Warner is going to propose to her that night at dinner. The song was a great way to open the show because it was very catchy and had me hooked right from the beginning. In fact, I haven’t been able to get the song out of my head.

In the scene when Elle is applying to Harvard Law School, she goes to the admissions office and puts on a live performance with the help from her sorority sisters, instead of sending in the mandatory essay. This scene involved a large amount of the cast where they were very energetic and peppy. The dancers in the scene astounded the audience with their incredible dance routines. A very surprising ending to this scene was when the head of admissions, Winthrop, who was played by one of Stamford High School’s most loved teachers, Jeremy White, decided to admit Elle into the Harvard Law School and joined in her performance by doing some “ethnic movement”. This certainly gave the audience and good laugh.

The song “Whipped into Shape,” involved Brooke Windham, played by senior Savannah Viggiano, her fitness team, Callahan and Company. In this scene, Callahan and his company are watching the fitness queen and her fitness team’s workout video. Callahan tells the legal team that Brooke is accused of murdering her billionaire husband. “Whipped into Shape” was a very challenging song to sing because the fitness team not only had to sing, but they also had to jump rope simultaneously. I was extremely impressed with their superb performance.

The song “Bend and Snap,” involves Elle, Paulette, Elle’s inner sorority sisters, and the salon folk. In this scene, Serena, Margot, and Pilar (Abby Bushell, Mariel Barocas, Shaina Lubliner) who are Elle’s sorority sisters were teaching the Salon stylist, Paulette, how to bend and snap in order to impress the United Postal Service delivery man. The ladies claimed that this move always works to get the attention of a man. The girls in this scene were very animated and had a great sense of humor about the song.

The cast of Legally Blonde did a remarkable job throughout the entire show. The night I went to see the show, the auditorium was packed, and I heard that every other night was the same. It was so exciting to see some of closest friends on stage and I am so proud of everyone!