Legally Blonde at GSS in Maple Ridge

Dressed in pink from head to toe, Zoey Moore has mastered the girlie giggle and catwalk sashay.

As Elle Woods in the musical Legally Blonde, the 17-year-old admits there’s been a little adjusting to do.

Firstly, Moore is a brunette.

“I’ve just got to remember, blondes are the ones who like to have fun,” says Moore, a student at Garibaldi Secondary School.

“I’m pretty much a dumb brunette,” she adds with a laugh.

Based on the hit movie of the same name and starring Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde the Musical is an award-winning Broadway sensation created by a team, led by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier Award-nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray).

College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn’t take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend Warner dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law School.

With some help from new-found friends Paulette, Emmett and her chihuahua Bruiser, she soon learns that it’s so much better to be smart.

The show is filled with lots of shopping, laments about dreamy boys, an overload of pink, and a healthy dose of girl-power.

“She’s not dumb. She’s smart in her own way,” says Moore, explaining Elle isn’t the ditzy blonde people think she is at first glance.

“She’s not scientific smart. She’s good at other things like – fashion.”

There are 18 songs in the show and Elle sings 16 of them, as well as having several costume changes.

Moore realizes the show relies on a top-notch performance from her, but is taking it all in stride.

Now in Grade 11, Moore has 10 high school productions under her belt and played a lead in last year’s musical Hairspray. She says character study and past roles have prepared her.

It also handy she’s now grown fond of Elle’s favourite colour.

“I’ve come to like the colour pink a lot,” Moore says with a laugh. “It wasn’t my colour before. It’s feminine. It’s fun. And I am the only one allowed to wear pink.”

With a cast of 55 and a live band, staging Legally Blonde is quite a feat for Garibaldi. The school is the first in Canada to stage the Broadway musical and drama teacher Cyndy Lacroix was warned against producing it.

“New York told me – it’s too hard, it’s got animals,” Lacroix says in the midst of a rehearsal.

In addition to a chihuahua and a boxer, Legally Blonde has several roll-on sets, or “trucks,” including a golf cart, a hair salon, shower and toilet.

Five teachers from Garibaldi are part of the production and Lacroix roped in two alumni – Andy McComb and Tyler Herman – to play a gay couple who sing one of her favourite songs in the musical – Gay or European?

She also increased the size of the stage by 30 per cent during summer break to accommodate a scene which features 11 girls skipping.

“I have so many girls in my program, so many great girls. That’s why I picked this show. Now all the girls have a lead,” says Lacroix.

“I don’t like the movie, but the musical is nothing like the movie. It’s a complete breath of fresh air, even men will like it.”

The production and cast took a double hit last week, though,  as  two former students, who were helping behind the scenes were injured in a car crash that killed another Garibaldi grad Crystal Weaver. Dawson Spencer, 17, who was driving the car that hit the Honda Weaver was travelling in, was also killed.

Lacroix wants the show to go on, but intends to honour Weaver and Spencer on opening night on Tuesday.

“That’s what Crystal would want,” she says.

Showtime

Legally Blonde plays at Garibaldi Secondary School Tuesday, Jan. 21 to Saturday, Feb. 25. Doors open at 7 p.m. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at Little Cricket Gallery, 102-22347 Lougheed Highway or at the school office. Phone: 604-463-6287.