Omigod! Legally Blonde principal cast announced

Legally Blonde Lucy Durack
Lucy Durack is Australia's Elle in Legally Blonde. Image by Brian Geach

The wait is over! After months of anticipation and speculation, Producers John Frost and Howard Panter have officially announced the principal cast for the Australian Premiere of Legally Blonde – The Musical.

Lucy Durack, best known for her performance as Glinda in the blockbuster musical Wicked, will lead the stellar cast as sorority-sister-turned-law-student Elle Woods. Starring alongside Durack will be Rob Mills in the role of Warner and David Harris as Emmett, as had been speculated several months ago.

Currently hosting Young Talent Time on Network Ten, Rob Mills first came to prominence on TV’s Australian Idol, and was later cast as Fiyero in the original Australian production of Wicked, a role he played for two years opposite Durack. David Harris is best known to Australian audiences for his portrayal of Chris in Miss Saigon, and has also performed the role of Fieryo in Wicked.

John Frost is particularly thrilled with the casting of Legally Blonde, which will open at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre on October 4, 2012.

“Lucy Durack proved with Wicked she is one of Australia’s top musical theatre performers. With her fabulous voice and comic timing, Lucy is the ideal choice as Australia’s Elle Woods”, he said.

“Rob Mills and David Harris have both rapidly become the leading men of the Australian musical stage – Rob did a fantastic job as Fiyero in his first musical role, and David has an enviable list of credits. They’ll both be terrific.”

Joining the cast as Brooke Wyndham will be international fashion model Erika Heynatz in her music theatre debut. Well known for her television work, Heynatz was the original host of Australia’s Next Top Model and went on to win the first series of Channel 7’s celebrity singing show It Takes Two, which led to a record deal with EMI Music.

Perhaps the best kept secret in the Legally Blonde camp was the casting of Cameron Daddo, who returns to the Australian stage for the first time in 20 years, to play Professor Callahan.

Daddo performed in the musicals Big River and The Wizard of Oz in Australian before relocating to Los Angeles and forging a career on the big screen and in American television. He has guest starred on television in Models Inc, FX – the series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Boston Legal, 24, The Mentalist, Without A Trace and NCIS.

“Erika Heynatz blew us away in her audition. I love finding talent in unexpected places and I know she is going to make a wonderful Brooke. And I’m overjoyed to be working with Cameron Daddo again after giving him his musical theatre break so long ago in Big River. This is the perfect role to bring him from LA where he has been so successful, and back to the Australian stage”, said John Frost.

The Australian Premiere of this award-winning Broadway and West End sensation was secured for Sydney with the assistance of the NSW Government through Destination NSW and the City of Sydney. The length of the Australian Premiere season has not been announced, but it is understood that the show is expected to run for some time.

The NSW Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Arts George Souris said, “With such an outstanding cast, Legally Blonde is certainly going to be a crowd pleaser, entertaining audiences over many months.”

Souris hopes the show will assist the NSW Government in their strategy to boost the economy. Blockbuster musicals (and internationally renowned ones at that) are estimated to generate close to $20 million over a 6 month run in direct economic impact.

“I love Legally Blonde. It is 100% pure entertainment, and I know Sydney will fall in love with the show as much as I have”, said Frost.

AussieTheatre will have more updates and interviews with the Legally Blonde team soon.

 

Erin James

Erin James is AussieTheatre.com's former Editor in Chief and a performer on both stage and screen. Credits include My Fair Lady, South Pacific and The King and I (Opera Australia), Love Never Dies and Cats (Really Useful Group), Blood Brothers (Enda Markey Presents), A Place To Call Home (Foxtel/Channel 7) and the feature film The Little Death (written and directed by Josh Lawson).

Erin James

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