Ohmigod You Guys!

June 3

Today we adventured all the way to Regents Park. Established in 1811, this park was designed by John Nash & James and Decimus Burton by order of the Prince Regent, whom it is named after. It is now home to the London Zoo, Queen Mary’s Rose Garden, and the Regents Park Open Air Theatre.

I spent a bit of time roaming around and looking at all the lovely nature. In particular, I sat down for a bit and looked at all the birds in the lake. They were so pretty to look at and very comfortable coming up to people, maybe a bot too comfortable. Nevertheless, it was nice to take a break and sit in such an amazing and historic park.

After my wondering, I made my way to the Regents Park Open Air Theatre to see Legally Blonde. This is one of my favorite musicals as there are so many great roles and songs that will be forever glued into your mind.

Before I went into the theatre, I picked up this cute and beautiful hedgehog I have named Reggie (after Regents Park…. get it 🙂 )

I was so incredibly excited to see this production of Legally Blonde, as Courtney Bowman would be playing Elle Woods. And I am glad to say that this production lived up to my expectations. It was fun and bright and super freaking gay (I mean there is literally a who rainbow light show at one point). It was fabulous.

Being that the show was preformed in an open air space, I was interested in how the show would play out. I have only seen high school and college productions done outdoors, never a professional theatre company so, I was stoked to see what tricks they had to bring Hardvard and the courtroom to life. First thing I noticed, is most productions of this show have real dogs playing Bruiser and Rufus, but being outside, even the most trained professional show dogs could react to a squirrel running by or pigeon who just happens to watch the show. It is to unpredictable, so this production the dogs were played by humans, which was very clever and a very new take to see.

I also thought the crew did a good job of prioritizing the safety of the actors. Walking in, and being a dancer, my first thought was if it rains are they going to slip. And being that this show is a spectacle of choreography, that is a huge concern to be valued. Luckily when the stage got a bit too wet before a huge number, they stopped the show for a second to wipe the floor.

Overall, I didn’t think the show was dampened at all for its outdoor location. Granted, it was not pouring outside where there would be probably a different response. They were even clever in giving the girl with a perm an umbrella so that it would follow the whole plot of the big revel at the end. I really enjoyed this performance and truly think Courtney Bowman is an incredible Elle Woods.