Lights and action will fill the stage at Garibaldi Secondary starting tonight.

The theatre at the east Maple Ridge high school will showcase a high energy musical, but its success is partly due to a dedicated student who's moving on this year, according to the director of the theatre program, Cyndy Lacroix.

Legally Blonde opens Tuesday at Garibaldi Secondary, and Lacroix said its musical director, Spencer Dodd, a Grade 12 student, has put in as many hours into the show as she has.

This is the fifth show that Dodd is doing with the Garibaldi theatre group since arriving at the school in Grade 10.

"This young man does as many hours as I do," said Lacroix, head of the Garibaldi theatre department.

Dodd previously worked on Rent, Love is All, Hairspray, the school version of the Lion King.

But the music in Legally Blonde is more complex than any other musical he's worked on, Dodd said, which requires more people and more practise time.

The orchestra has been expanded and this is the first time it will include an altosaxophone, a tenor saxophone, a trumpet, and a flute.

Dodd graduates from Garibaldi this year and he is hoping to have a career in music production - doing something similar to what he's been doing at Garibaldi, but on a professional level.

"It's much more fun to play music when there's a story behind it," Dodd said.

And playing music live "makes you want to practise," Dodd said.

While Dodd is intrigued by stories Lacroix has told him about musical theatre in New York, and he is considering studying in the United States, he said it will be hard to leave Garibaldi Secondary.

"I've had a lot of fun times here," he said.

But he knows that there is a large variety of career opportunities in music and musical theatre - there are "so many places to go with it," he said.

Dodd is largely musically selftaught, consulting that ubiquitous teacher, the Internet, for assistance, and he can hold his own on several instruments.

Lacroix calls Dodd an "artistic collaborator," saying she's never worked with a student like him in her 21-years of experience as a theatre teacher.

"He's the kid who makes you want to work a 24-hour shift," Lacroix said.

Adding to his success as musical director is his passion and the fact he won't take no for an answer, she added.

Legally Blonde tells the story of a young woman who follows her boyfriend to Harvard Law School to prove she's serious and ends up defending a fitness instructor accused of murder.

As she often does, Lacroix said she's spent many hours with the students exploring the topics of the play and its message.

Legally Blonde starts tonight (Tuesday) and runs until Feb. 25 at Garibaldi Theatre at Garibaldi Secondary, 24789 Dewdney Trunk Rd.

Tickets are $10 for students and seniors, and $15 for adults.

mrantanen@mrtimes.com