It’s a tale as old as time — a young woman pursues a man across the country and ends up successfully defending someone against murder charges.

Maybe not? Still, Natchez Little Theatre will present the Broadway musical “Legally Blonde” as the closing show for its 66th season May 29 through June 1.

Based on the popular 2001 movie of the same name, “Legally Blonde” is true to the source material while adapting it to the stage and adding many musical numbers, said Erica Condon, who plays the lead character, Elle.

“For those who have seen the movie, there are a lot of parts that translate directly from the movie to the musical,” she said. “There are a lot of funny lines that you will see here.”

NLT’s Artistic Director Layne Taylor is taking the helm of the show as director again, and said the show is “very youth-oriented” with lots of rock and rap numbers and hip-hop dances.

“There are enough ballads to appeal to an older audience musically, but most of the music is more youth-oriented,” Taylor said.

“We try to balance our seasons here, and we thought even though we opened our season with the ‘The Color Purple,’ which is a contemporary musical, the subject matter and theme of it is more historic than modern, and we wanted to do something modern this year that will involve a lot of young people and appeal to them as well.

“It is a scream and it is absolutely hilarious. It is a very energetic show, that goes very fast and moves at a very quick pace.”

Joining Taylor in directorial roles are Terrence Robinson as musical director and Shemeka Ware as choreographer.

“In addition to his musical duties, Terrence plays Chad the Partymaster, and he does a big rap number with a big Rastafarian wig, which is a hoot,” Taylor said.

“Legally Blonde” tells the story of Elle Woods, a Chihuahua-toting sorority girl from California who — thinking her boyfriend is about to propose to her — is instead dumped for an East Coast socialite.

Rather than taking no for an answer, Elle decides to follow her ex-boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, across the country to Harvard Law School in an effort to win him back.

One of the changes the musical makes from the movie is Elle’s law school application, Taylor said.

In the film, she submits a video for review by the admissions board, but in the musical she wows the group with a big musical number, he said.

While at law school, Elle realizes she can help people with what she is learning, and helps a salon owner get her dog back from a spiteful ex-boyfriend. She also successfully defends an exercise queen and older sorority sister, Brooke Wyndham, in a trial in which Brooke is accused of murdering her husband.

A native of Princeton, N.J., and a recent graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, Condon’s Elle is her NLT debut, which Taylor said will be noteworthy.

“She’s quite remarkable, an intelligent and beautiful lady,” he said.

“She looks just like what you would think ‘Legally Blonde’ would be, she has an incredible singing voice and is an incredible dancer, and she is a fabulous actor who carries the show from the opening to the closing.”

Condon said she has done musical theatre in the past, but never a show that has required her to appear in every scene. Despite the fact that she makes eight costume changes, the only break she gets during the show is the 15-minute intermission in the middle.

“Some of those costume changes are pretty difficult, trying to get backstage, changed and back out without tripping over someone,” she said.

Joining Condon onstage will be the male lead, Natchez native Tyler Brown, who will play Elle’s love interest, Emmett Forrest.

“Tyler has performed with us before, but this is his first lead in a musical, and he is also phenomenal,” Taylor said.

Other cast members include, Morgan Mizell as Paulette; Nance Hixon as Warner; Jordan Waller as Vivienne; Susannah Byrne Heatherly as Brooke; Alethea Shelton, Arden McMillin, Bailey Thompson, Kaytlyn Walker and Hannah Hargis as Delta Nus; along with Julie Emerick, Lee Dellinger, Michael Ware, Mary Jane Richards, Robbie Hargis, Judy Wiggins, Adrian Bernotti, Mike Thomas, Amanda Dill, Don Vesterse, Stacey Carden, Tam Winston, Brittany Mitchell, Shemeka Ware, Tema Larry and Taylor.

Performances will be 7:30 p.m. May 29-31 and 2 p.m. June 1.

Tickets for NLT non-members are $20 and can be reserved by calling 601-442-2233 or purchased online at natcheztheatre.org.

A benefit performance for the NLT 2014 Summer Youth Workshop will be 7 p.m. May 28. Tickets for the benefit are $15.