Rainbow Stage star relates to Elle Woods’ perseverance

Nearly 9,000 aspiring barristers and solicitors cross their fingers and send in their LSAT scores to Harvard University each year, but less than 10 per cent of applicants wind up on campus in Cambridge, Mass.

In Legally Blonde, the musical opening tonight at Rainbow Stage, Elle Woods (Claire Mac Master) defies the undercutting judgment of her blue-blood boyfriend Warner (Duncan Cox) to earn a spot in the Ivy League, leaving her doubters aghast and crimson-faced.

“What?” asked Elle — played by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film version — “Like it’s hard?”

The New York-born Mac Master never had any aspirations to pursue a law career, but can relate to her character’s plucky self-determination based on her experience at Toronto Metropolitan University’s undergraduate acting program, which accepts 25 applicants each year from an international pool of hundreds.

“It’s a pretty gruelling process to get in,” says Mac Master, who graduated in 2019 with her BFA.

“I don’t know about now, but it was one of those things where you have to walk into the room and believe that you are what they’re missing. Elle absolutely does that at Harvard. She walks in and goes, ‘OK. You’ve never seen anybody like Elle Woods at Harvard before. Let me show you what I can do.’ And I think as an actor, you have to bring that every time you’re auditioning — for a character, for a theatre company or for a theatre school.”

That was on Mac Master’s mind in December when she got a callback from Rainbow Stage, a company the Toronto-raised performer says has “been on my bucket list for forever.”

“This role came up and I’ve been chasing Legally Blonde for a long time,” she says.

Unlike Elle Woods, who sends a bikini-clad video application to the unsuspecting board of review, Mac Master wasn’t an unknown entity. A few years ago, the actor worked with Legally Blonde director Alex Herzog on Dirty Dancing in concert.

“All those things coming together felt absolutely kismet. Right place, right time, right preparation,” says Mac Master, who played the role of Baby in a national touring production of the 1963-set story.

The performer also has a bit of Rainbow in her blood, which didn’t necessarily help her cause, but certainly added a touch of personal motivation.

“My father (John) is an internationally renowned opera singer who actually started his career here, doing Fiddler on the Roof and The Student Prince at Rainbow Stage in the 1980s, which made this so full circle,” she says.

John Mac Master wasn’t from Winnipeg either, but Claire says he made the cut here and “still chats about what an incredible experience he had.”

“I went around and found the posters from those shows and sent pictures to him, so I just feel like this is a real dream come true to be here,” she says.

Directed by Herzog and choreographed by Josh Assor — who have previously teamed up on Rainbow productions of Mary Poppins and Rock of Ages — Legally Blonde features a 15-person orchestra and a cast filled with notable talent familiar to Winnipeg audiences.

Making his Rainbow Stage debut as Emmett, Elle’s budding love interest, is Ryan Brown, who starred as Buddy in last season’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Elf. Julia Davis — who previously starred in Little Mermaid and Frozen — plays law school rival Vivienne.

Frequent Rainbow Stage star Colleen Furlan plays the larger-than-life stylist Paulette, in a role made famous on screen by Jennifer Coolidge. Daniel Bogart — who gave a full-throated performance as Caiaphus in last month’s Rainbow production of Jesus Christ Superstar — plays a different type of authority figure as Professor Callahan.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com