Engineers have never been known for their artistic capabilities. Still, engineers at Carleton have been putting on yearly musicals since 2012.
This year, they chose to tackle the beloved Legally Blonde: The Musical, the story of a “typical blonde” that goes into law school to impress her ex-boyfriend.
Their production didn’t exactly break any stereotypes as to why engineers don’t typically take the stage—but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Kailash Mital Theatre was packed with flight suit-clad engineering students dancing to the hit songs of the 2000s.
Legally C-Eng took the main characters of Legally Blonde and enrolled them into Ottawa’s finest engineering program.
At face value, this comes off as a unique concept fit for a university production, but there were issues in its execution.
The plot begins with Warner (Andy Curtis) refusing to sleep with Elle (Samantha Brown) until she can obtain a coveted flightsuit.
Chaos ensues when Elle teams up with Emmett (Surya Nareshan) to get a flight suit and win Warner back from robotic romantic rival Vivi (Hanna Bugler)—and, along the way, foil dastardly plans by long-time student Callahan (Noah Pacheco) to take over the Flightsuit Committee.
Drama, romance, comedy, friendship, and, most importantly, math—the script of this musical had it all.
The actors however struggled to bring likability to their characters and the cast delivered awkward performances all around.
While excessive inside jokes, attempting to revive dead memes, and overusing sexual innuendo isn’t the best way to lay out a musical, the jokes were still very well-received.
Dabbing and “Damn, Daniel” references in 2019 are comedically distasteful—but the crowd ate it right up.
The playbill had a glossary of terms to explain the inside jokes, but most of the audience had no need for it.
Every joke was met with hysterical laughter and the audience’s engagement was at a continuous high.
In places where the script lacked, the musical’s fun atmosphere and intense spectator support made up for it.
One of the most notable aspects of the musical’s strengths was the surprising amount of talent its performers brought to the stage.
Engineers aren’t normally recognized for their singing abilities, but each lead proved this idea wrong.
From Elle and Warner’s solos to Callahan’s dance number, the cast and crew proved their ability to put on a show.
Given that Legally C-Eng was advertised as a musical for engineering students, it must be marked as an undeniable success.
This musical clearly wasn’t meant for everyone, but that was never its intention.
The script was specifically targeted at engineering students, and in that regard the cast and crew did their job in evoking constant and genuine laughter from them.
Image provided
