I’d never been to the Paramount Theater in Aurora before, and I’m not sure it was worth an hour drive each way to get their Bosco Cheddar Cheese-Stuffed Pretzel Breadsticks, but it’s a great venue (built in 1931 and beautifully restored) and I wanted to see the show, which didn’t disappoint.  Also, parking was cheap.

Legally Blonde, the musical, is pretty faithful to the movie, and the differences only make it better. I have this on the best authority, a woman I chatted with in the lobby after the show, who said she’d seen the movie 35 times, a hazard, she said, of having daughters. In turn I assured her that the play was a faithful depiction of law school.

The show’s lyrics are wonderful, from Blood in the Water to There! Right There!, and the Greek Chorus of high energy women inside Elle’s head provides non-stop entertainment.

The exercise guru defendant’s tour de force, Whipped into Shape, as performed by Jenna Coker-Jones, where she sings while jumping rope, exhausted me, but not her, and left me wondering about divas who lip sync during dance routines that aren’t nearly as athletic.

The use of a giant drop-down iPhone screen numerous times throughout the show is brilliant (including the live cast selfie at the end), my only complaint being that I probably missed something, either on the phone or on the stage, because there’s so much going on.  Also, I thought we were told to turn off our phones.

And, the part of the muscular UPS delivery guy from the movie is expanded in the play to provide additional comedy, and filler between scenes to allow costume changes. I know it didn’t advance the plot for him to get down from the stage, parade past and flirt with the women in the front row of seats, and, then, when reentering the stage, pose and announce “I have a package.”