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Laura Bell Bundy, Broadway’s Legally Blonde original Elle Woods, was minding her own business, living her best life in Pasadena when a friend mentioned that the South Pasadena High School Drama Club was doing a full production of Legally Blonde. The actress took it upon herself to reach out to Drama Director, Nick Hoffa, to see if she might “drop off some stuff from the original production and maybe say Hi”.
Hoffa tells us, “I was pretty sure I was really emailing with her, but part of me wondered if someone was playing a prank” he laughs, “the SPHS cast of Legally Blonde knows her so well because MTV aired a performance years ago of the Broadway production and it lives on YouTube. So, to this cast, Laura Bell Bundy is a big deal. They know her every move.”
The actress came to SPHS during final dress rehearsals of their production of Legally Blonde, was 8-months pregnant and, needless to say, the students were over the moon in disbelief as well as honored and thrilled. Bundy stayed and chatted with them, answered questions about Legally Blonde as well as questions about performing in general. Hoffa went on to say, “It was incredibly generous and she couldn’t have been more open and honest and encouraging with the kids.”
Lindsey Calva, who played Elle Woods for the SPHS production, says meeting the Broadway star really made her excited to do the show. She explains that she had been dreading its coming due to the sheer magnitude of the role but she says, “after Laura came, it reminded me that hey, she’s human, I’m human; if she could do this then so can I.”
Calva says that what she knew of Bundy was her professionalism and performance but that meeting her made Calva realize that she too is a regular person. “I noticed something that really helped me in the last bit of characterization; Laura talked about how she connected to Elle Woods and I saw how much Laura was like her interpretation of Elle. Seeing and hearing that made me really think about how am I like Elle and how I could still be me on stage. It made me think of this one quote “you are more interesting than the best actor you could ever be”. Laura’s presence made me think about the next thing I need to learn about acting; about being yourself when you’re telling the story.”
Calva says that what she knew of Bundy was her professionalism and performance but that meeting her made Calva realize that she too is a regular person. “I noticed something that really helped me in the last bit of characterization; Laura talked about how she connected to Elle Woods and I saw how much Laura was like her interpretation of Elle. Seeing and hearing that made me really think about how am I like Elle and how I could still be me on stage. It made me think of this one quote “you are more interesting than the best actor you could ever be”. Laura’s presence made me think about the next thing I need to learn about acting; about being yourself when you’re telling the story.”
