Former CCU student plays Elle Woods again

Bailey Hanks, the former Coastal Carolina University theatre major who four years ago starred on Broadway as Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde," is back in the role of the sorority-girl-turned-Harvard-law-student, only this time in California and Alabama.

Hanks, a native of Anderson, won the MTV reality series "Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods," beating out 15 finalists for the lead role. She attended CCU during the fall semester of 2007.

After ''Legally Blonde'' closed (it ran from July through October 2008), Hanks stayed in New York for a while and eventually moved to the Nashville area, where she's been pursuing a career in Christian music.

But then opportunity came knocking in the form of two theaters that have hired her to play Elle again: California's Diablo Theatre Company in February and, in July, Birmingham's Red Mountain Theatre Company.

''I'll be reprising my role for the first time since my Broadway debut,'' Hanks, 24, says in a Birmingham News report. ''It's crazy that four years later, I'm doing it again.''

Hanks has been a fan of ''Legally Blonde'' since the 2001 movie version starring Reese Witherspoon.

She was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority at CCU.