Westfield's Coleen Sexton follows 'Legally Blonde' tour homeColeen Sexton has a much more arduous task in the tour of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” — she has to jump rope and sing at the same time.
Starting tonight, Sexton will show her home staters how that’s done when the touring company of the hit Broadway show plays a week at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
“I’m Brooke Windham, an exercise guru,” says Sexton, a Westfield native. “Unfortunately, Brooke is also accused of murdering her much older husband — which is where law student Elle Woods comes in to defend her.
Sexton did the standard amount of jump-roping with her school chums at McKinley Elementary School. But by the time she reached Edison Intermediate School, she was already performing. Her first show was a revue a teacher concocted, called ‘Playing the Palace.’ ”
And while Sexton hasn’t yet played the Palace Theater on the Great White Way — where “Legally Blonde” enjoyed an 18-month run in 2006-07 — she did play the female lead on Broadway in “Jekyll & Hyde,” at the nearby Plymouth Theatre.
It’s one reason why Sexton didn’t attend college after graduating from Westfield High School in 1997; the offers just kept coming. The good news was that she was offered a role in a touring company.
“Mom was concerned about my schooling. Despite cutting an album in Germany — “and even being noticed in supermarkets over there,” she reports — Sexton gravitates to musical theater.
Those stints include “Wicked,” in which she’s played the green witch Elphaba more than 100 times, and both “Go-to-Hell Kitty” and Mama Morton in “Chicago.” Sexton will experience one minor heartbreak while she’s in Newark.
Alas, the Yankees will be at home for the first part of “Legally Blonde’s NJPAC stint — but will play at times when Sexton must be onstage.
Legally Blonde: The Musical
Where: Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark
When: Tonight through Sunday. Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
How much: $23 to $79. Call (888) 466-5722 or visit njpac.org.
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