OMG! London Legally Blonde Star Sheridan Smith on Painting the Town Pink

Star performances don't come more immediately winning and truly heartwarming than the exercise in audience seduction currently on view at the Savoy Theatre, where 28-year-old Sheridan Smith is playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. An alumna of the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Little Shop of Horrors (which transferred to the West End), in which she played Audrey, Smith is better known from her TV work across the years, including, most recently, Benidorm, Gavin and Stacey and Jonathan Creek. But Legally Blonde lifts her stage allure to a new level: Broadway.com caught up with the pint-sized powerhouse the night before the gala West End opening of the Broadway transplant which, in a departure from the London norm, critics had been invited to across a range of press previews as is the custom in New York.

Legally Blonde hasn’t even opened yet, but there's already a feeling that this production has taken the town.
I can't believe the reaction of the public; I'm just gobsmacked. I've been very teary during most of the shows—it's just so emotional to have the audience with you and so behind the character. They're on [Elle's] side from the start. It has great heart to start with, this story.

This company is able deliver up with such feeling something that could seem mechanical.
You know, the whole cast, the whole company—they just get it, so maybe that comes across. And there's such a lovely message in the story about being true to yourself and being strong and not letting people get you down. There was something about it that I related to being a ditzy blonde myself and moving down to London to see if I could make a go of it. In this current climate, and with the weather so terrible, I think it's just escapism for people. It's two and a half hours of fun; it's not Chekhov. [Laughs.] You don't have to work things out.

What do you feel about critics having come to one of various press previews, instead of all piling into the opening night?
I'm kind of enjoying it. This is a real people's show, so hopefully the press will get to see how much the paying public enjoys it.

Are they ever, as can be seen from the reaction that your solo bow gets at the end.
I feel honored to have that bow, and I'm overwhelmed by the response. In America, everyone comes down head held high and does their bows and Jerry [Mitchell, the director/choreographer] said to me, "Enjoy it! Enjoy that bow." I said I didn't feel worthy of the clapping and the standing ovations and, you know, it's funny, whenever we get praised, our cast is always saying, "Oh, no, we weren't as good as we might have been or we did that bit wrong." We're perfectionists, so we're always putting ourselves down, but I guess that's good: it means we'll never get complacent [laughs].

Did you think Elle was a natural fit for you?
To be honest, I really didn't think I would get the job at all. I'd sung with my mum and dad, who are a country-and-western duo, and I'd done Little Shop of Horrors and Into the Woods but I'm not trained and I've never been that confident about my singing, so when I got this I really thought, “Wow!” I was kind of shocked they gave me the part.

There aren’t many West End leading ladies who love dogs as much as you—which is something you share with Elle.
Can you believe it? As if this job couldn't get any better, it's got live dogs in it: it's like my dream role! I've got a sharpa, Japanese spitz and a pug, called Enid, Trish, and Barry Manilow: not camp at all, right? [Laughs.] They go mad when I come home every night because they can smell Rufus and Bruiser [the stage pooches] on me. The difference is that the dogs in the show are so well trained. Mine aren't—mine are very naughty.

How did the part actually come about?
I called my agent when I heard [Legally Blonde] was coming and said for him please, please, please to get me seen. I had the first audition with Jerry and then a recall in front of a panel of about 15 people with the composers and everyone in, and there I was like a cartoon character with my knees knocking and Jerry was saying, "Breathe, Sheridan, breathe," so I did a few numbers and some scenes and they called me 20 minutes later. I don't think I stopped screaming for an hour.

It's vocally and physically much more of a stretch than Audrey in Little Shop. .
I don't really stop for the first 20 minutes. I don't know how many costume changes there are during that first stretch; all I know is the first time I sit down is when Peter Davison sings "Blood in the Water" and at that moment I think, OK, I can bring my heart rate back and calm down. Before that, I've got "Omigod You Guys," "What You Want," and "Serious," going into the big dance routine with the majorette outfit: all of it pretty nonstop.

You navigate the score with incredible skill: does it feel like a tough sing?
I've been doing singing lessons regularly, and, hopefully, it's come on. I'm no kind of big diva opera singer—Christine in The Phantom of the Opera I will never be—but I love singing, I absolutely love it, and I was dancing long before I started working on TV. This is one [role] that, hopefully, I think I can do. Like I said, it's a dream part: you get to sing and dance and do comedy and pathos.

No gym membership needed for you.
Ha! I've been a member of a gym for years and have never been because I'm so lazy and really don't like exercise, but now I'm starting to lose weight just due to the show. I stopped smoking a couple of weeks before we started rehearsals and have not even thought about it. In terms of fitness, that's the best thing I've done.

It must be interesting doing a musical about one woman's romantic quest following your own well-publicized split [from the popular TV actor/comedian Jamie Corden, who was seen on Broadway in The History Boys].
It kind of is. In a way doing this show has made me really think, God, how Elle follows this one guy [Warner, played by Duncan James] for so long and then, when she least expects it, finds romance with Emmett [Alex Gaumond]. I've not been on dates—not even seen my friends and family—while I've been rehearsing for this, but hopefully once we're up and running, perhaps something similar might happen to me. I keep hoping that Prince Charming might come along and I'll find my Emmett. I'm sure he's out there somewhere.

So, how do you think Audrey and Elle would get along?
They'd get on great! Audrey's a tart with a heart: she just loves everyone. And there's not a bad bone in Elle's body. I really think she would look after Audrey.