Living out her dream in 'Legally Blonde'

Moorhead-born Becky Gulsvig returns to Minnesota as the lead in "Legally Blonde."

By ROHAN PRESTON, Star Tribune

Last update: April 25, 2009 - 5:15 PM

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LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL

What: Book by Heather Hach. Music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin. Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.

When: 8 p.m. Wed. and Fri.; 2 & 8 p.m. Thu. and Sat.; 2 & 7:30 p.m. next Sun. Ends May 10.

Where: Ordway Center, 5th and Washington Sts., St. Paul.

Tickets: $54.50-$80.50. 651-224-4222 or www.ordway.org.

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In the 2001 film "Legally Blonde," Elle Woods is a rich sorority girl who follows her boyfriend from California to Harvard Law School. No matter, he still dumps her.

Elle (played by Reese Witherspoon) is undaunted. She gains acceptance to Harvard and ends up graduating with honors and being named class-day speaker.

In real life, home-grown performer Becky Gulsvig proved she has as much moxie as Elle, whom she is playing in the national tour of the musical based on the movie. But instead of following a man, she followed her dreams.

As she was about to graduate, a year early, from Moorhead High School in 2000, she decided to forgo college "for now." Gulsvig moved to New York to try her hand at acting on the Great White Way, a Broadway dream that many starry-eyed youngsters follow every year, only to have their hopes crushed.

Gulsvig landed in New York fearful but determined. Within weeks of arriving, she won her first role -- in a "Peter Pan" tour that took her away from New York.

She has since been in "Hairspray" on Broadway, playing another blonde, Amber Von Tussle, in that musical.

Now she is returning to her home state in the biggest role of her still-new career. "Legally Blonde" lands this week at the Ordway Center in St. Paul.

She understudied the part on Broadway and originated the role of Leilani in the 2007 premiere.

"I'm living my dream," she said recently by phone from the road. "I got pretty lucky and feel so fortunate to have gotten a good start."

Gulsvig gets help

The daughter of a financial adviser and a professor, Gulsvig has spent years in theaters. She was guided by Eddie and Kathy Gasper, who run a performing-arts training school in Fargo.

Early on, they recognized Gulsvig as someone with promise, casting her in her first role -- mopheaded Orphan Annie -- at age 4. The actor considers them her theatrical parents.

"Becky's always had talent -- but lots of people have that," said Eddie Gasper, who for 12 years was personal assistant to Bob Fosse and who appeared in "Sweet Charity" on Broadway and assisted on the film. "What she has that's special, and that you can't really teach, is an aura. She knows how to make her personality shine through a song or dance number."

Gulsvig has known ever since "Annie" that theater was her destiny. "It makes me feel like I'm on top of the world," she said.

And she has done many of the hard things that go with it -- from out-of-town auditions in Chicago and Detroit, to a punishing schedule of classes.

"She does work hard," said Eddie Gasper. "You can feel her determination and hunger."

The move to New York has had its downs, although they are nothing compared with what most actors experience in the Big Apple. "I've waited a few tables here and there," she said.

She's also appeared on soap operas and performed on cruise ships that have toured Canada, northern Europe and the Caribbean. "That's been like a vacation -- one of the best ways to see the world," she said.

In fact, it was while she was performing on a cruise ship that she met Tyler Fisher, now her husband. The two of them are driving across the country in a station wagon during the tour, with their golden retriever. He sells merchandise for "Blonde," a show that's instructive, said Gulsvig.

"Women get underestimated, and they also underestimate themselves," she said. "Elle teaches everyone else not to say no to her and she also learns to believe in herself. That's a good moral for a story."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390