Daily Sitka Sentinel

Arts Camp Actors Step Up Pace with ‘Legally Blonde’

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Jump ropes in hand, the cast of “Legally Blonde” is working through the “Whipped Into Shape” dance routine with director WT McRae.
    “I know you like a lot of space in Alaska,” says McRae in the Thursday afternoon rehearsal, “but you have to be right up against each other.”

WT McRae, at left, lines up performers as they rehearse a scene from “Legally  Blonde” Thursday in the Rasmuson Building on the SJ Campus. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

    It’s been a long day, but there are still smiles, hugs and laughs among the cast and crew of more than 50 who are putting together the production for the stage in less than two weeks. It is the seventh full-length Broadway show McRae has directed for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.
    “We’re closing in on halfway through,” McRae tells the cast at the end of rehearsal. “It’s going to get harder before it gets fun again.”
    The show opens for three performances next weekend: 7 p.m. Friday, July 27, and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at the Performing Arts Center.
    The 2007 Broadway musical is based on the 2001 blockbuster movie about a California sorority girl, Elle, who decides to attend Harvard Law School to prove to her boyfriend that she is more “Jackie” than “Marilyn,” and therefore worthy of him. But things don’t work out as she planned, and she discovers she has more to offer than shopping and fashion tips, namely brains, integrity, grit, guts, loyalty and friendship.

    The production is fast-moving and fun, with plenty of zingers and positive messages for young women about supporting each other, valuing themselves for their smarts, and not judging by appearances.
    “I’ve always wanted to do this with young people,” McRae said. “We have a lot of young women, and it’s hard to find a show that serves them appropriately. There’s a lot of musicals that have female characters who find validation by getting a husband, or you have to choose between love and having a job.”
    This show stands apart in that way, he said.
    “I don’t always feel the characters we ask young women to model in musicals exemplify the great lives they could have,” McRae said. “I love Elle because she is a very strong main character that expresses love, and goals, and doesn’t compromise her way of being to get the things she wants.”
    This is the largest cast SFAC has had for its Musical Theater Camp.
    But the director said the biggest challenge so far in this musical has been the “tracking” or the logistics in each scene and from one scene to the next. The show is complicated at times, McRae said.
    “In the song ‘What You Want’ at one point we end up with frat brothers, a marching band, the UCLA cheer team, a Jet Blue pilot and the Harvard admissions board,” he said.
    When asked why people should see the show, he said: “It’s a great time.”
    “I think our lives are hard and complicated, and we all spend enough time worrying about whether our families are safe, we have shelter over our heads, if young people are growing to become productive members of society, school shootings, the state of our country ,...” McRae said. “The American musical is the answer to what ails you. And watching earnest young people tell a story that can be an escape for our troubles as well, I think, is the best reason to leave your house.”
    Some cast members who were taking their 4:30 p.m. “rec time” told the Sentinel that they’re having a great time.
    “I love Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and I love ‘Legally Blonde,’” said Emma Broyles, 17, who plays Elle. “It’s my favorite things put together.”
    A student at Service High School in Anchorage, Broyles has appeared in high school and community theater productions of “Guys and Dolls,” “West Side Story,” “Grease,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “Seussical,” among others.
    The toughest part of this show?
    “The long rehearsals and trying to memorize an entire show in seven days,” Broyles said. “It’s pretty stressful, but really fun.”
    Ella Stringer, 15, came up from Ashland, Oregon, for her first SFAC experience. She plays Harvard Law student Whitney, the best friend of Vivienne, and other roles. Her resume in both community and high school productions includes roles in “Sweeney Todd,” “Hair,” “Peter Pan,” “Shrek” and “Crazy for You.”
    Stringer was born in Sitka, but has lived most of her life in Ashland, a theater mecca. Her family plans to spend the week camping, then boating across from Kruzof to see the shows and visit friends in Sitka.
    “It’s really really fun, exhausting,” Ella said, of this camp. “We’re constantly on the go but it’s been really, really fun.”
    Her takeaways have been the process of learning a song or dance much faster than usual.
    “It’s paying really close attention and practice what you’ve learned,” Stringer said.
    Linnea Lentfer, 14, who goes to Juneau Douglas High School, is attending her second Musical Theater Camp, but she has also attended Middle School Camp.
    “I do other artforms,” she said. “I get my theater fix for the year here.”
    Originally from Gustavus, Lentfer said she has always enjoyed theater.
    “I like the instant community it creates,” she said. She also enjoys the experience of “totally committing yourself to another character, and there are other people doing the same thing.”
    This is the first year of SFAC and Musical Theater camp for Matt Mahoric, who will be entering his junior year at West Anchorage High School.
    “It’s stressful but in a fun way,” he said. “It keeps you busy but it’s not overwhelming.” He plays Professor Callahan, a law professor, whose take on the law profession is laid out in his solo “Blood in the Water.”
    His other theater experiences have been roles in “Addams Family” and “The Music Man,” and he’s in the choir at West.
    Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for youths for the evening shows; and $15 for adults and $10 for youths for the matinee. Tickets are available at Old Harbor Books and the door, and online from the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.