Someone asked me this morning what I thought of Legally Blonde—the movie-to-musical now playing at 5th Avenue Theatre —and before I could stop myself, out came: “Super fun.” Sorority-speak had gone to the brain after a night spent watching the surprisingly clever adaptation of Reese Witherspoon’s box-office hit. Sure, the show opens with Delta Nu sisters in Juicy Couture jumpsuits squealing and singing “Omigod You Guys,” but what it lacks in substance it makes up for in spunk, with one of Broadway’s most endearing heroines since Elphaba’s misunderstood Wicked witch. Becky Gulsvig is perfectly cast as Elle Woods: a Malibu blonde who decides to win back her ex, Warner (golden-voiced Jeff McLean), by following him to Harvard Law. She of hot pink outfits and heart-shaped notebooks doesn’t quite fit in at Hahh-vard, so she seeks solace in a hair salon. And so the story goes…

Director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell takes this fish-out-of-water tale and gives it a makeover, complete with imaginative dance routines—“Whipped Into Shape” is a song-and-jump-rope number—and bit characters (including two dogs) that now steal the show. To quote hair stylist Paulette (a hysterical Natalie Joy Johnson), Ven Daniel’s hunky UPS guy is “walking porn,” with a strut and soundtrack that prompted more than a few catcalls from the ladies in the audience. And though the music is largely forgettable, the lyrics are not. After the climactic courtroom scene, you might leave musing: “Is he gay…or European?”

Legally Blonde plays at 5th Avenue Theatre through March 14.