What’s Next? Legally Blonde!

The Canonical Ensemble, two weeks after their wonderful performance of Hamilton Act II, was already hard at work on their next musical venture, Legally Blonde. In early April, we interviewed Shiri Perechodnik, one of the director-producers of the upcoming show, as well as Zoe Bareket, who heads one of the choirs. You may remember her from our previous interview of the ensemble, in which we interviewed Zoe along with Itai, Boaz, Miriam, and Nicole. You can read that interview in our first issue.

When the Canonical Ensemble assembled in order to select their next performance, Legally Blonde quickly emerged as the prime candidate. Shiri told us that Legally Blonde was, in fact, her idea. She explained to us that they had to select a musical based on several criteria, primarily what they would be able to cast together in less than a year. After multiple deliberations, it came down to two choices: either they would show a shortened version of Legally Blonde or Act I of Wicked. The ensemble opted for the former. But before we continue, what is Legally Blonde about?

Legally Blonde is a musical based on the 2001 American movie of the same name. The story follows a young woman by the name of Elle Woods. Elle’s boyfriend, Warner, who plans to study at Harvard, tells her he doesn’t find her serious enough and promptly leaves her. Elle, determined to prove her seriousness, finds her way to law studies at Harvard and ultimately proves her worth not only to others but also to herself. While the musical is similar to the movie, it does differ, introducing and emphasizing the relationships between female characters rather than Elle’s relationship with Warner and other men.

Shiri, who is in her final year of Computer Science studies, joined the ensemble in her second semester for Act I of Hamilton. There, she was part of the singing ensemble and, starting from the bottom of the hierarchy, having proven her passion and commitment to the show, rose to directing and producing the Canonical Ensemble’s Legally Blonde.

Hamilton, unlike Legally Blonde, had only a few female actors, one of the reasons the ensemble opted this time for a different kind of show. Legally Blonde is also far more comedic than the dramatic and historical Hamilton, which follows the story of the American founding father, Alexander Hamilton, and by extension the founding of the United States. It is not the only difference.

“Suddenly we had scenes with dialogue,” Shiri told us. Every line of dialogue in Hamilton was carried out as part of a song or musical piece. In contrast, Legally Blonde has multiple scenes in which there is no music, only speech. The dialogue scenes have proven challenging for the crew. Zoe and Shiri explained that this is because the music helps the actors remember their lines and follow the beat of the show; thus, these scenes rely purely on the acting strength of the performers.

When asked how many people are working on Legally Blonde, Shiri estimated that about 70 people are working on the show in various departments. There are several departments that make up the work behind the production of Legally Blonde. There is the stage department, composed of singers who are divided into choirs (one of which is headed by Zoe), as well as the actors and the dancers. There is also a musical department, which consists of an orchestra conducted by Boaz Zick. In addition, there is the costume department, for which Shiri is responsible, as well as a décor (props) department. Above the departments is a “cabinet” of the various people responsible for elements of the production, from Itay Geva, the producer, to Morag, the choreographer. Above this entire operation is a kitchen cabinet consisting of Shiri, who is in charge of the creative work of the show; Itay, who is in charge of logistics and bureaucracy; Omer Ziv (dubbed the “integrator,” whose role is to connect and ensure the various parts of the show work in sync); as well as Boaz, who is in charge of the musicians.

In this large production, Zoe, who played King George III in Hamilton Act I and II, is in charge of the Monday choir. As the head of a choir, she must teach the choir the songs. Most of their practice time is spent rehearsing the songs and developing their voices. Zoe must learn every part in order to record each part of the songs so that the various choir members have a baseline to listen to. As they become more familiar with the songs, the choir begins to learn the choreography and practise singing while performing the dances.

Shiri is not only the creative director and producer of the show. She is also an actress, portraying the major character Brook Windham, who owns a sports fashion brand. Shiri told us that she considers her directing and producing role far more consequential, in part because it takes up the great majority of her time.

Via Zoom, Shiri showed us several Excel sheets through which she controls every part of the show’s creative work, from the rehearsals each actor must attend to which song and scene will be practised in each rehearsal, as well as the general calendar of the show. It is a constantly changing Excel file, requiring her to adapt to various people’s needs as well as the realities of practising during wartime. As a director, she must make creative decisions, for example by planning the set and designing doors. It was important for Shiri to credit Itay Geva, who carries the heavy weight of coordinating all the logistics and bureaucracy to allow every aspect of the show, from rehearsal spaces to discussions with the Technion, to materialize.

Toward the end of the interview, we asked them about the elephant in the room: the war and how it affects them. Shiri and Zoe told us that anything they can possibly do via Zoom, they do via Zoom, including meetings, one-to-one practices, and more. And yet, the two are working hard, despite all constraints, to realize the show.

To conclude, we discussed how their passionate work has influenced their studies. Zoe, who studies architecture, told us she had to pull several all-nighters to finish her projects on time. She also said her lecturers were very supportive of her. Shiri, who doesn’t remember how her studies were before she got involved in the musical business, said that working on Hamilton and now Legally Blonde was her source of happiness and light during the semester, helping her weather the difficult and tiresome parts of her studies.

Shiri and Zoe’s passionate work is a powerful source of inspiration. “It may be counterintuitive,” said Shiri, “but the students’ production of Hamilton and Legally Blonde is proof that creative work, and the creation of art, is not contrary to studying at the Technion.”

Since our interview, Legally Blonde was performed on the 25th of June 2026. A professional and wonderful show, we have only to thank Shiri, Zoe and the rest of the crew for their laborious yet fruitful work.