With the spring musical, “Legally Blonde,” quickly approaching, there has been discussion about the importance of hair color in the show. Elle Woods has always been believed to be blonde, and Vivienne Kensington has always been believed to be brunette. However, Lancer Theatre has decided to change things for this production, by leveling the playing field among all cast members and settling on one hair color: red.
Hair inequality and wigs
“Legally Blonde” has been a difficult show to put together for the theatre department, mostly because the actresses for Elle and Vivienne are the opposite hair colors for their characters: Elle is brunette and Vivienne is blonde. To solve this hair dilemma, Steven Skelcey, the director of the musical, has required all cast members to dye their hair ginger.
Skelcey said, “It is important to make all members of the theatre and community feel represented. Legally Blonde’s original concept promotes blonde-empowerment and brunette-brutality. Gingers aren’t even brought into the discussion. This change allows for red heads to finally be represented, and for the argument of power between blondes and brunettes to finally come to an end.”
Skelcey also mentioned the many opinions from the community in recent years, and said, “The community has always been breathing down our necks to make our shows less controversial. This is how we do that.”
When discussing baldness in the department, Skelcey gave no comment.
This also allowed for no wigging to be necessary, and lifted stress off of the shoulders of the hair and makeup crew.
Some cast members are already ginger, like the cast representing Paulette, Brooke Windom, Margot, Kyle, and a few ensemble members. For these cast members, their hair will remain the same.
One freshman cast member, Sharon Thimble, was born ginger and later dyed her hair blonde to fit social norms. She said, “My ginger-ness has always been my biggest insecurity, since pre-school. Now, I can finally go back to my red roots and be accepted for my ginger-ness.”
Other cast members, like junior Kyle Branson, are opposed to this change. Branson said, “Male pattern baldness runs in my family, and I’ve noticed a few bald spots myself, but I’ve been able to cover those bald spots with my black hair. Going ginger has not only revealed these bald spots, but enhanced them.”
Overall, this change in style has also, clearly, changed the title of the musical to “Legally Ginger.” Lawsuits from the original Broadway show are expected to come in shortly, according to Skelcey.
