"Legally Blonde" by Bingham Musical Theatre Company.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

It's the story of Elle Woods who is madly in love wither her man Warner Huntingdon III, but when he takes her to dinner, a dinner she thought was going to see her becoming Warner's fiancée, he announces that he is off to Harvard Law College and needs to break up with her. Elle takes this badly and vows to win him back by also applying to get into Harvard to show him that she is what he wants and that she is serious!

Elle is played by Amy Flatman, and it's no surprise that the choreography for Elle is carried out with great vigour and style, because for anyone who doesn't know, Amy's background is in dance, and that shows in this role. When you tie that in with a lovely, strong set of vocal chords, you know that you're guaranteed a fun night; and that's what you get in this show with Amy as lead.

Emmett Forrest is played by Riley Halls Backler, a young man who I've seen rise from the stages at University to the stages outside the campus, like he does tonight. Last time Riley was involved in "Legally Blonde" he played the dual role of Schultz/Carlos, but this time he's the main man. I noticed that some of the arrangements for Emmett's songs have been arranged slightly different which really played to Riley's vocal skills. Nice chemistry with Amy and the two characters vocalise well and actually look like they should be a couple; Elle and Emmett that is!

Elle's boyfriend to start with, Warner Huntingdon III, is played by Nathaniel Halls. What I liked about this version of Warner was that as soon as he appeared on stage, you got the cut of the character; arrogant and selfish. I have a feeling that this is the first time that I've seen Nathaniel, but he has great confidence in both his acting and his vocals, despite this being the first production that he has been involved in for a few years. 

Warner's Harvard love, Vivienne Kensington, is played by Megan Leahy, who I didn't recognise to start with due to the black wig she wears for Vivienne; there's no mistaking that voice though. Vivienne is a wonderful character who has that epiphany moment when she sees the full picture of what's happening with Callaghan and takes action, redemption for initially throwing Elle under the bus.

Professor Callaghan is the badman that we all love to hate due to his slimeball attitude, thinking that he has the pick of the crop of the pretty interns. Played by Craig Youngman, another young actor who I've seen several times and who always makes me feel comfortable with the roles that he plays. You may have caught him this year in the 40th Anniversary production of "Les Miserables" at the Nottingham theatre Royal. With that in mind, you know that Callaghan's role is not doled out to just anybody, but to an actor with a powerful voice and stage presence. Enter Mr Craig Youngman.

Brooke Wyndham, the keep fit guru who is accused of murder is played by Emily Scott Cox, who skipped from previously playing Elle in a previous production a couple of years ago, to skipping on stage as Brooke. Her voice is as strong as ever and looks as gorgeous as ever in this high energy role.

Paulette Buonafonte, owner of the hair salon The Hair Affair and saucy quip, is played by Meghan Borg. Meghan is another actor of whom I've had the pleasure of performing on stage on several occasions, who has come up through Nottingham University's Musicality. Love the Brooklyn accent that Meghan adopts for Paulette and she also gets to perform one of my favourites from the soundtrack "Ireland".

Although Kyle B O'Boyle, the UPS Delivery man, is only a small part, but with a large package, he certainly makes his presence felt, and is played by Rory Long. Rory really plays up to this "walking porn" role and looks as if he has been working out in the gym, even throwing in a couple of pec flexes. This man knows how to fill out a uniform. Some other productions of "Legally" shows Kyle as not the sharpest tool in the box but here Rory plays the character as knowing the affect that he's having on Paulette.

Evelyn Johnson (Margot), Erin Hill (Serena) and Sophie Benner (Pilar) simply sizzled as Elle's BFF's with some energy filled dance routine, especially the "Bend And Snap".

Helena Cave (Kate), Eloise Lowe (DA Joyce Riley), Beth Duffy (Shop Manager/Judge), 

Nikos Argitakos, the Wyndham pool boy is played by Brogan Hayes and Nikos' boyfriend Carlos, sorry "best friend" is played by Will Jackson Cartlidge. Love the role of Nikos, even though it's only a small part - well have you seen the uniform he has to wear - but it's one of those roles that everyone remembers due to the fun. Being the subject of the song "Gay or European", which has some wonderfully fun lyrics, you just can't forget this pair.

Enid Hoops, the ballsy University intern, is played by Tex. Another fun role which does not take herself that seriously, but is great fun to watch.

Elle's Mum is played by Mandy Simons and Elle's Dad is played by Simon Hawkins.

The ensemble consist of Emily Holder, Theo Northcote, Preston Nash, Harriet Campion, Hermione Mae, Connie Tegredine, Sophia Goncearenno

Brooke's step daughter, Chutney Wyndham, Aaron Schulz, Sandeep Padaman, Grandmaster Chad are played by various cast members not specified in the programme.

Rufus and Bruiser, the two four-legged stars are played brilliantly by Skye and Picasso - so well behaved - and naturally get the "aahhs" from the audience.

Directed by Dom Mills, ably assisted by Karen Richards. When you've seen as many productions of this musical as I have over the years, you can often notice little changes, and there area  couple of small amendments made in this production; none of the changes detract from the production one bit. This show is pacy and immense fun to watch, which obviously means that Dom and Karen have, yet again, done an excellent job.

Choreographed by Charlotte Clay. There's a lot of choreography in this show, and lots of fun stuff, for the audience, but also I imagine for these talented dancers and cast members. Love the energy in these dance routines.

Musical Director is AJ Hill, who has held this post previously for this show, so he knows the score back to front and inside out. A couple of changes to some of the song arrangements sound like they have been made to make sure that the songs themselves are perfectly matched to the skills of the individual actors, which is what you'd expect any MD worth their salt to do.

The band themselves are meaty and punchy and loud, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. To start with I did think that the volume of the band slightly overpowered the vocalists, but within a few songs, this was equalised in the sound mix.

"Legally Blonde" has a wonderfully memorable soundtrack which includes "OmiGod You Guys", "What You Want", "Blood In The Water", "Positive", "Whipped Into Shape", "Bend and Snap" and the lyrically clever "Gay Or European".

The set is hired in from Proscenium and the layout for this production is not one that I'd seen before with an upper level, but it worked well.

Stage management is by Katie Brougham, and I liked the way that at the start where Warner and Elle are first seen, the chairs and tables for that scene just seemed to evolve around them, and then disappear with the ensemble. I do know that if there's anything been left on stage accidentally, like a coat hangar, or something small, the ensemble aren't known for removing these but gold star to Preston for discretely removing the coat hangar from the "Take It Like A Man" scene.

Costumes co-ordinated by Caroline Moreley.

Sound Design is by George Wilson. On the whole the sound was really good and powerful, but there were a few missed mic cues, but you know that I listen out for them, where some audience members may just miss them.

Lighting design is by Nick Elliot, and again a really good operation. I know that the production team are operating a new system that has been hired in for this show. Only one scene where I thought should have been illuminated which was where Emmett, Elle and Paulette are going to get Paulette's dog from Paulette's ex, Dewey. there was just a spotlight on the door where Dewey emerged from but the rest of the stage, where the trio were was in the dark. Apart from these couple of picky observations, the sound and the lighting looked and sounded issue free.

"Legally" is just a great big bundle of fun musical which is beloved by most theatre goers and cast members alike, and you can see by the faces of this cast at their final bows just what an enjoyment this show is for them.

"Legally Blonde" is at the Nottingham Arts Theatre until Saturday 27 September; it would be criminal to miss out.