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INTERVIEW: THE CAST OF LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL · 987 The Shock Circuit

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: OK, we're gonna make this quick because both of us
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: are in our blonde wigs right now and the cast
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of Legally Blonde, they don't know yet, so we want
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to surprise them. Yeah, I mean, it's not as if
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: they can't see the studio, the glass window and all that. Yeah,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: you look so weird right now. I cannot. Yeah, if you're,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: if you're on TikTok, my goodness, I've been, I've been
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: eating the last 10 minutes of my life. Literally, it's
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: not the kind of thing I want to wake up
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: in the morning. This is really scary. This wig has
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: been worn by too many people.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: OK, OK, I see them coming in. We'll be right back.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Sonia and Joe Kim here with you are Sonia and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Chio Kim, as our listeners have dubbed you, Joe. Wow,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: because of the blonde wig. I love it. Thank you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: very much, CP 17 on TikTok. But hey, if you're
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a heartbroken England fan this morning, maybe the three of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: them might cheer you up today. Maybe, yeah. Yeah, because
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: they're gonna give you loads of laughs, but we have
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: them here in the studio. The cast of Legally Blonde,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: which is running over at the SA Theater very soon.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: They can't see us. They can't, they cannot see us.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: but the other, the people listening can't see us, wearing
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: a t-shirt. She's wearing the Legally Blonde, the musical t-shirt.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: We go from left to right. We've got Natany Yong
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: in the studio, Nathan Atono and Riley.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: OK, uh, because we've seen Natalia and Nathan quite recently
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: in the studio as well, I want to actually start
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: this off with Riley, it's been a while. Where, where
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: have you been? Where's the music? What are you up to?
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: How's sporting life? Tell us everything. tell us in 30 seconds.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: OK, I guess I've been kind of hibernating for a
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: while and then this will be like the first thing,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the huge thing that really got me out of.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: My hibernation. Yeah, and it's like bam, and it's so intense.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: And then yeah, probably more new new music,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I read somewhere that it's actually in a musical like
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: you've done it already. No,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: actually, I've only done musical theater once and that was
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: like 10 years ago and it was for Boys to Men,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the musical.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, look, this one, this one is.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Like a reunion for a lot of really big names,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: you know, for all of you even in Singapore as well.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: How was it like when you finally saw all the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: cast members together and you're like, OK, we're going to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: spend so much time together over
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the next. I was thinking like, it's so cool because
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: there's like 4 generations, which
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: is
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: 3.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: OK.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: maybe from the 40s, 30s, late 20s, and young 20s.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So it's really, really awesome and everyone's so talented.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: It's been crazy like and like you said, like Sandra
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: has never really been in this world as much. So
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it's been kind of hilarious to see it happen in
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: real time because we've been friends.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: For so long, right? And like for her to be
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: in this space, but also like doing what is arguably
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: one of the more intense roles in this show, like
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: not much of a spoiler, but she has to do
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: like work on top of work on top of work.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Like she's playing multiple characters, she's in the ensemble, she
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: has her own lead character, she has choreo that is
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: honestly like,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I am not jealous whatsoever.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: that might be the hardest, like at least like stamina wise,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: I would say that is like one of the hardest
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: numbers in the show.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: So a queen.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Now we need to really see it for real. It's crazy.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I have, I have video on my phone, I'll show
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: you a bit, but like as a colleague, I'm just
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: like wow, respect. As a friend, it's like this is hilarious.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I, I, I don't know if I'm asking too much,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: but what I enjoy are stories of the auditions before
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: you actually secure the role. What was it like for you?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe Natalia can start us off first. Did you audition
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: for it, or did they knew that they, they're gonna
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: cast you as Elle Woods for this run already?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: think they asked me and then it was just a
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: question of like checking out availability and like all, all
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: of that. But to be honest, I kind of agree.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I agree to it because I really liked the movie
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: when I was growing up, and I didn't realize how
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: physically intensive all of this would be. I think I
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: have 10 costume changes. I mean, it's
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: cute, she is somewhat
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: like a fashionista,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: is
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: a fashionista, I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I'm loving
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the costumes so far from, from my costumes from what
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I've seen, but I won't lie, the idea of those
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: 10 costume changes.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: changes.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, because you brought that up, right? Is there,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: are there going to be any like Singaporean twists and
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: references in this for sure? There's a, can you say some? Oh,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: you can't say just yet? I mean, I can say,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: but you're not gonna remember. Just come and watch the show. Yeah,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, I figured because even as Elle Woods presented
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: in that film versus like on this stage, it's going
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: to be very different, right, in a way.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Well, the show is still set in the exact same
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: place that it's set in. It's still set in Harvard,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: it's still set in Boston, um, but in 2026, and,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and there are some references thrown in there as a
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: nod to like where we are, like, you know, the, the, the,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the Singaporean cast and all that. Um, but we still
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: very much maintain like the spirit and essence of the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: show because it'd be weird if they did the show
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: in like NUS law or something, you know, like it's like.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: True, true, true, true, yeah, I was gonna say we
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: just saw the affirm some hair getting my mouth. It's
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: not easy, man. It's a difficult life. I'm not used to,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not used to this to this week. No, we,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: we saw the very cute poster of a Pierre Peng
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: in the outfit, and I like the outfit and Khalija
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: as well. Any more surprises or are we done? Will
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: there be more? This feels like Avengers Doomsday coming together,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: you know, for this.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: It's, it's very much. Yeah. Um, well, I mean, we
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: get to see Pierre like every other day now with
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: like the most like skimpy costume. So you know, if
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: you want to see it yourself, you also have to
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: come and catch the show. Um, what else? What other surprises?
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's not a spoiler, but you know that
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: there's like little doggies in the show, right? Yeah, real, real.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: dogs, like there were auditions and everything. There was a
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: casting call a few months ago. And like we're having
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: our first rehearsal with them today. Yeah because so far
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: we've just been rehearsing with stand-ins.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. OK. A stand an electric car.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: OK. I was wondering who stood in for the dogs
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: or something. I mean, as you know, you know, that
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the plot point and everything is about the stereotypes of
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a blonde, right?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: So if you were to take it into a Singaporean context,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: what do you think people overseas think of Singaporeans in
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: terms of a stereotype? Like a random stereotype, it can
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: be anything, like how, I don't know, casu we are
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: or like Singapore, yeah, exactly. What do you think are
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: some of those stereotypes?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: What do you
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: get, Nattie, when you were
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Singaporean living in London, yeah,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Singaporean stereotypes, I think like some of the stereotypes are
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: like the typical like, they really like queuing, like they'll queue,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: they don't know like what they're queuing for but they'll
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: just join the queue anyway. It's just just by observation,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I think like Singaporeans are known to be like quite
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: foodies as well just in general and.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Those are the main two.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I would I would say so. I think
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: so.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: And I lived in America for a while, so they
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: just thought I was from China. So like not much
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: of a stereotype there. What do you mean? But, but
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I think like a good facsimile between like like a
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: blonde stereotype, I think would like the Singaporean equivalent.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: would be like an alien stereotype. You know, when you
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: see that archetypal kind of visual, I think a lot
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: of people are very quick to make assumptions and like
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: honestly like Singaporean stereotypes kind of like there's a lot
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: going on. I'm not gonna get too into it but
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: like Alien, Sonia, I mean, I'm giving right now.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: But yeah, see like, like aliens contain multitudes. They're not
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: one thing, but however, the visual does give people like
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: kind of a 1 to 1 like, oh, immediately they
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: relate to that. And I think Elle's story in this
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: show is very much trying to like fight against those
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: exact stereotypes. Yeah, so it's she's an alien, an alien.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: And on that note, let's go for a quick break, Sonia.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Still with the cast of Legally Blonde, the musical.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: girl
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: We were, we were having like an off-air convo, a
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: TikTok exclusive. We're Gonna bring a few questions on air
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: right now. So earlier I asked Riley about her character's
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: voice and Riley's voice. Are they similar or do they
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: have a difference? So Riley gave a very extensive answer.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: If you missed it on TikTok, you can rewind and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: watch it again. So I'm gonna use the same question
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: for Natalia as well, having played Eliza Hamilton and of
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: course Eponine on Les Miserable. For Elle Woods, the vocal range,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: must you tweak anything or change anything for that? Oh
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: my
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: gosh.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: So much, this role because it's such a stamina battle,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: like to get a little bit more technical, like I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: really have to twang so much of it, but that's
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: more of like a preservation technique, like I cannot sing
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: this full, this full score, if I, if I don't twang,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: twang everything out of it, to be honest, so I
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: think that because of that by nature, it would definitely
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: sit differently from all of these different places, um, but
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: also that's one of the things that I find really exciting.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Every time I take on a new character, it's like,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: you know, like finding that new voice. So I think
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: that has been one of the big challenges for myself, uh,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: doing this role. How
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: do you not get tongue
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: tied? I'm always just so impressed like the amount of
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: words that go into, I don't know, even 2 seconds, right?
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: It's great. I mean, we get tongue-tied on air all
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the time. Yeah,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: yeah, I, I absolutely do get tongue-tied and if you
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: watched the full run we did yesterday, there was a
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: full section. I just went blah blah.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Like the best answer to that is really just like
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: that's why we rehearse for like entire days. Like we're
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: doing like a full, full, full day of rehearsal from
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: morning to evening. And like it's just to get it
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: into our bodies, get it so that it becomes muscle
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: memory almost. Ideally, you're not thinking about the 100.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: 50,000 words you have to say in one minute. But yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: So Nathan, not your first, your first musical as well.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: What's the difference between the past musicals and this role
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: you're doing right now, Legally Blonde? I think it's almost
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: 10 years.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Uh, because the last musical I did was the last
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: 5 years of Inch. And if you know anything about
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: that show, I am barely acting with her. I am
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: mostly just kind of by myself. So to go from
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: that into this, which is like a 20+ person cast
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and like huge ensemble, like it's just a very different
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: environment in rehearsals, uh, backstage, I'm sure the show is
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: gonna feel very different as well.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: But it's also just been like a very, very nice
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: reminder as to like why I keep getting sucked back
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: into theater because like the people that are in it
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: are truly in it for the love of the game.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And it reminds you why we do art in this
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: country where it's not the easiest to do art, you know.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: To be surrounded by people like that that are so
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: just like fiery towards like the singular goal. It just
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: adds so much more light to the rest of my life.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I surprised myself halfway through that, that just came out
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of nowhere. It was rehearsed, but I mean, I wanted
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to ask also because, you know, watching the movie itself
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: is so entertaining.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: But watching the musical, how would you want the audience
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to leave feeling? No, I haven't. I've only watched the movie.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Objectively speaking, it's better than a movie. You think so?
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I think so. So how will I leave feeling as
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: an audience member? Like it's feel good,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: it's optimistic, it's
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: how would I.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Cried and then nanny's fault. There is one song that
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: broke me and everyone, everyone in the rehearsal space. I
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: was trying not to pretend, you know, pretend not to cry,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: and I look across the room and people are going
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: like putting their shirts and covering their eyes
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and they have to go up again in like 5
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: minutes
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and the next day we're like.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm 100% gonna cry. I'm, I'm very emotional
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: when it comes to like watching stuff. It's almost every
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: role she's done so far, Nanya Ong, she's made the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: audience cry. But
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: this
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: is supposed to be the happy one. This is.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Y. OK. Hopefully, OK. But, but you will, I think
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: you'll leave and you'll be like, oh my gosh, you
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: might say, oh my God, a lot.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I mean,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: it's so fun. It's such an uplifting show. It's really,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: really fun.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: It's a bit of a guaranteed dopamine hit. If you,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: if you leave this show without a smile on your face,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but there's something wrong with you. Because if
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you don't like us, at least like the little doggies.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Do we get to hold them for a while, and greet.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I mean if you do, something has gone horribly wrong.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Running off the stage. OK, can I, can I ask
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: about the t-shirt you're wearing? Is it merch? Is it
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: available if we can get it somewhere already? Is it?
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Or is it? No, it's not. It's just for us.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: It's just for us. It's a nice shirt though. I
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: love it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: It
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: You can find it on Carousel.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I'm just worn by Nathan.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: That was worn by Nathan. By the way, it runs
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: at the Esplanade Theater 29th of July to 16th of August.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Get your tickets now or you could win one more
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: pair tomorrow here on the short circuit. Yeah, we've been
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: giving out all this week, so you'll see some of
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: our listeners enjoying your show on the 4th of August.