Rita Simons, Lucie Jones and Bill Ward to star in a UK tour of Legally Blonde The Musical
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
RITA Simons (as Paulette Bonafonte), Lucie Jones (Elle Woods) and Bill Ward (Professor Callahan) will lead the cast in a new touring production of Legally Blonde The Musical, which visits New Wimbledon Theatre from June 18 to June 23, 2018.
Legally Blonde The Musical is an all singing, all dancing romantic comedy, a fun-filled, feel-good pink fest in which college sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods, doesn’t take no for an answer.
When her boyfriend dumps her for someone more serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books and heads for Harvard Law Schoiol. Along the way, she proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.
Based on the Reese Witherspoon film, Legally Blonde The Musical earned seven Tony nominations and 10 Drama Desk Award nominations during its Broadway run. In the UK, it was nominated for five Olivier Awards, winning three including Best New Musical. It also nominated for eight Whatsonstage Awards, winning four including Best Musical.
Rita Simons is best known for playing Roxy Mitchell in BBC’s EastEnders for which she has won numerous awards, including Most Popular Newcomer at the National Television Awards. Her other awards and nominations include Best Newcomer at the Digital Spy Soap Awards, Best Onscreen Partnership for her character partnership with Ronnie Mitchell played by Samantha Womack, Best Newcomer at the TV Now Awards, a nomination for Best Newcomer at the 2008 British Soap Awards and Best Newcomer at the 2008 Inside Soap Awards.
Simons has also appeared on TV in Mile High as Hannah, Dream Team as Julie and London’s Burning. In Spring 2012, she was the subject of a major documentary film Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me made by Leopard Films for BBC1. She actively supports the charity RNID.
Lucie Jones is currently playing Maureen in the 20th anniversary UK tour of Rent. Her previous theatre credits include: Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Leicester Curve); Molly in Ghost (Asian Tour); Victoria in American Psycho (Almeida Theatre); Meatloaf in We Will Rock You (International Tour); Kelly Byrne in The Prodigals (Edinburgh Festival); and Cosette in Les Miserables (Queens Theatre/O2 Arena).
Her TV acting credits includes: Melody Carver in Midsomer Murders and Louise in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Jones was a finalist in the 2009 series of The X Factor.
Bill Ward, best known for his work on two of the country’s leading soaps, has just finished three years in Emmerdale playing farmer James Barton. Previously, he played the builder Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street. In addition to his many and varied TV and film credits Ward is no stranger to the stage and has worked at Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Royal Exchange, Northern Stage, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and The National Theatre Studio amongst others.
He’s played Prospero in The Tempest in Guildford; Lancelot in Spamalot and Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet, both in the West End; and Kevin the Gnome in a muddy field in Glastonbury.
Joining them in the cast of Legally Blonde will be David Barrett (as Emmett), Liam Doyle (Warner), Laura Harrison (Vivienne), Helen Petrovna (Brooke), Ben Harlow (Kyle), Nancy Hill (Enid), Rebecca Stenhouse (Margot), Delycia Belgrave (Pilar), Rachel Grundy (Serena), Lucyelle Cliffe (Elle’s Mom), Rosie Needham (Kate Chutney), Alexandra Wright (Leilana), Sally Frith (Gaelen), Mark Peachey (Elle’s Dad/Winthrop/Dewey), Michael Hamway (Aaron), Felipe Bejarano (Sundeep/Nikos), Brett Shiels (Grand Master Chad), Connor Collins (Carlos), Emma Prosser (Swing) and Craig Tyler (Swing), with further casting to be announced.
Legally Blonde also has two dogs in the cast, a Chihuahua called Bruiser and another called Rufus, a big, brutish, dog that only its mother could love! Bruiser is already cast and will be on the road but producers have decided to hold auditions for ‘Rufus’ in every town and city on the tour – more details to follow.
Produced on tour by Martin Dodd for UK Productions Ltd, Legally Blonde is directed and choreographed by Anthony Williams, with co-choreographer Dean Street, and has musical supervision and musical direction by James McCullough.
Legally Blonde The Musical has music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach, based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the MGM motiion picture.
The tour will open at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley (September 18 – 23, 2017) then tour the UK and Ireland until June 2018, visiting High Wycombe, Bristol, Woking, Northampton, Rhyl, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Southampton, Cardiff and Edinburgh. After a Christmas break, the tour starts again at Belfast Grand Opera House on February 26, 2018, before continuing to Dublin, Stoke, Canterbury, Norwich, Leeds, Blackpool, Sunderland, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nottingham, Birmingham, Salford, Liverpool, Brighton and Wimbledon.