2025 DENVER GAZETTE TRUE WEST AWARDS: DAY 16 The cast was made up of ‘Bluebards’ – more than 40 Academy cadets, each destined to be an Air Force officer one day Michelle Ruehl, like Elle Woods, just finished No. 1 in her class. The retired Air Force colonel – and a longtime force behind the Air Force Academy’s thriving theater program – was sworn in Dec. 10 to the Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education after garnering the most votes among a field of seven. Of course she did. Somewhere in the pink recesses of my mind, I can see Elle Woods presenting the colonel with her iconic pink fuzzy pen in congratulations. In May, Ruehl directed a Thunderbolt II-sized theater production of “Legally Blonde, the Musical” on the Air Force Academy campus. Her cast was entirely made up of more than 40 Academy cadets, each destined to be an Air Force officer one day. Yes, the mighty Air Force has its own theater company called the Bluebards. (The name is a mashup of Shakespeare’s nickname and the color of a Falcon’s sky.) And they have been entertaining, enlightening and comforting the Air Force Academy and its surrounding community for 63 years. Historically, the Bluebards average about 500 at each musical performance held at the base’s Arnold Hall. They are free and (mostly) open to the public. They are often offered as part of graduation weekend activities, when lots of extended families are in town.  “Legally Blonde” averaged 800 at every performance. “We had people say they were surprised that we had such talents among us, which is a preconception I deal with so often,” Ruehl said. “Yes, the students who come here don’t come here for theater. They come here for engineering and to be a pilot. It just so happens that many of them are incredibly talented in other ways.” Members of the Air Force Academy theater company, the Bluebards, perform opening night of “Legally Blonde, the Musical,” on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette) Layla Bohl, who played the uptight legal student Vivian, was selected to take part in a summer internship at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting in London. That’s something the Air Force doesn’t usually allow, but they let Bohl leave for the summer. So, we’re having cadets go to selective, world-class theater programs now – and that’s just never happened before. So I am so excited for them. “I want the audience to know that our warriors are talented and thoughtful and artistic human beings – they are not robots or technologically-driven war machines,” she said. “These are students with empathy and compassion, and they’re going to be thoughtful leaders. “And some of them just happen to have Broadway-level talent.” Next, the Bluebards will present Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” on Jan. 30-31, which should make the ghost of the group’s namesake proud. “I think it was really grounding for them to take on Shakespeare after doing such a huge, fun pop musical to bring them back to the roots of where theater began,” said Ruehl. So, the state of the program looks strong, yes? “Right now, yes, but they are still cutting lots of programs across the board,” she said. “So we just have to keep showing them that the audiences are coming.” The Bluebards “Legally Blonde, the Musical,” cast has a dance party in celebration of opening night before the start of the show on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette) ‘Blonde’ highlights “Legally Blonde” became a worldwide phenomenon, first as a movie (2001), then as a Broadway musical (2007), because it showed that women can succeed in male-dominated spaces while supporting each other and finding their own authentic voices. While poking fun at homophobia, racism and the kind of systemic attitudes that have historically thrived at patriarchal institutions like Harvard – and, gulp … the Air Force Academy. The same Academy where new Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind recently announced plans to cut the civilian faculty workforce and traditional academic degree programs in favor of special ops-style “warfighter” majors that will prioritize combat readiness over broader academics. “I thought for sure he would shut us down,” Ruehl said. “But instead, he actually came to the show, and he laughed, and he enjoyed himself.” That is the power of theater. Col. Michelle Ruehl, center, the show’s director and a 2003 Academy graduate, gives last-minute instructions to cast members before opening night of “Legally Blonde, the Musical,” on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette) Everything about the Bluebards’ story is surprising – starting with its very existence, followed by its smart, affable and Elle-mentally blonde commander in chief.   That group began in 1963 as “The Bluebard Society” to perform light musical satires. But by 1965, it had grown into a legit theater company producing relevant war stories like the play “Stalag 17.” Fast forward to 2025, and this unlikely ensemble that performed in “Legally Blonde” hailed from 25 states (and one from Thailand). Of course, their first priority is their officer training. The daily Air Force regimen is rigorous, often occupying the cadets’ every waking moment from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. They only get 12 minutes a day to sit for lunch. The Bluebards, who put on three shows a year on a paltry budget of just $3,000 – are considered a club activity. So there are no excusals of any kind to accommodate the considerable demands of producing a theater show. Grace Buettner, a sophomore from Nashville, said it is not uncommon for an exhausted cadet to sleep under the stage. Buettner estimated that she devoted about 300 hours to participating in “Legally Blonde.” So why do they do it, when every minute in this four-year pressure-cooker is currency? “Because this is a release,” she said. “We all love it here. When we come in, we drop our Academy baggage at the door. In here, we are just purely ourselves and we get to be creative and sing and dance and laugh and just ignore cadet duties for a little bit.” Yes, Bruiser is, famously, a Chihuahua in the iconic 2001 ‘Legally Blonde’ film. Here, the role is played by a sunglasses-toting Maya, a therapy dog with Go Team Therapy Dogs. In this photo, Maya waits patiently in the green room before curtain call for the Bluebards’ stage production of ‘Legally Blonde, The Musical,’ on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette) Ruehl, who graduated from the Air Force in 2003, has continued to serve the Academy in varying ways since. She is an officer, pilot, mother, life coach, English teacher, equine riding instructor, theater director and professional speaker. And by far the coolest, most surprising, most inspiring person I have met on the Colorado theater beat in a very long time. And she’s been here in Colorado all along. Well, not always. There were those 800 combat hours she flew in Afghanistan. Ruehl was an Air Force student when the 9/11 attacks happened and the stunned campus community gathered in Arnold Hall for a briefing. The Bluebards were staging “The Glass Menagerie” there at the time, with Ruehl playing Laura Wingfield. The base went into complete lockdown. Nobody in or out. “We had to make a decision: Do we do the show or not?” said Ruehl. “And we thought, ‘You know what? We’re going to go ahead and do the play for whoever’s here and needs it.” The next performance was standing-room only – and you should know, Arnold Hall seats 2,600. What did that tell Ruehl about the power of theater at a time of national tragedy? “I can tell you that, under those circumstances, this was the only place where people could gather and grieve and emote – and where that was not only appropriate, but accepted and necessary,” she said. Denver native Heather Hach, who wrote the Tony-nominated book for ‘Legally Blonde’ the musical,’ sent in a congratulatory video last fall. Theater, and specifically theater of war, has been the central focus of Ruehl’s academic life. Her doctoral dissertation focused on how theater can help individuals and communities heal from personal, social and historical trauma. When she was deployed to Afghanistan, she flew airplanes for the Air Force. But she also taught English, theater and traditional folk music to local Afghan girls who were not allowed to go to school. “They were terrified of me as an American woman,” she said. “I was in a flight suit. I had an M9 pistol on my hip. I flew airplanes. But when I started to play music and do acting and role-playing, their little faces would light up.” Ruehl has since developed a handbook of tips for how to use theater for trauma-informed social interventions. “The irony is I would be much more comfortable directing something like ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ than ‘Legally Blonde’ because there is so much more trauma in those stories,” she said. “But in ‘Legally Blonde,’ we did have the scene where the professor hits on Elle. And I’m a sexual-assault victim advocate. So when it came time to do that scene, I had them all sit down, and we talked through unwanted sexual contact. That is assault. So I was able to use the power of theater to address this topic – even in a comedy.” The Bluebards are proof that one general truth about theater is universal at any level. Theater provides both a place to play and a place to belong. And it saves lives. Even at the Air Force, where the players are all gods in training, from wing commanders to football stars. Because they are not gods. They are humans. “Yes, I am a colonel, but I am also a victim advocate, and these cadets can tell me anything,” said Ruehl. “I have had multiple students over the last few years come up to me and tell me they were suicidal, or they were assaulted.” Six years ago, Ruehl took a phone call telling her a cadet was at a local hospital saying she was going to kill herself. She didn’t ask for a cleric or her squadron commander. She asked for Ruehl – her director for “West Side Story” at the time. “I raced down there, I held her hand, and we sang songs together,” Ruehl said. “She’s now a first lieutenant, and she has a baby.” But when she was in crisis, Ruehl said, “I don’t think there was any other place she could have gone on this campus for help.” Suddenly, the greater need for the Bluebards’ existence became clear. Theater isn’t just a novel club activity at one of the nation’s great military academies. It is a lifeline. “Think about it,” “Ruehl said. “We’re not just a university. We’re a warrior-making machine with no place for respite.” But theater, she said, prepares these cadets to bear the responsibilities that come with officership by eroding stigmas, eliciting empathy and generating dialogue. Ruehl was endorsed for the school board by the Denver Gazette’s parent paper in Colorado Springs. “Ruehl brings deep experience in education,” the editorial board wrote. “She knows that preparing students for life means developing not just knowledge, but character and confidence.” Sort of like theater does. U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — (U.S. Air Force photo/Dylan Smith) Speaking of ‘Fiddler’ After “Much Ado,” the Bluebards will go into rehearsals for a May production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and it promises to be one of its largest – and perhaps surprisingly, even most controversial – undertakings to date. “‘Fiddler’ is going to be much harder on them,” Ruehl predicted – ”especially because of all the things happening in the world right now.” Wait. “Fiddler?” Perhaps the most beloved title in musical-theater history? The one that tells the ultimate universal story of tradition vs. change? The only controversy “Fiddler” ever faced was for maybe being too soft and generic in how it presents the forced displacement of Eastern European Jews in what we now know to be Ukraine. Oh, now I get it. Ukraine. “We’re going to put on ‘Fiddler’ during a time when … I don’t even know how to couch it carefully after the events (in Australia) this weekend,” Ruehl started. “But … I mean, the bravery that our students are showing to take on a show about Jewish culture right now … “ She trailed off. But the issue comes down to both appearances and the Air Force’s mission. “We are not a political university,” Ruehl said. “And when our shows are so high visibility, we have some people who think that (just by telling the story) we’d be siding with one side or the other.” To Ruehl, “Fiddler” is an important and timely story about traditions – ”and what it feels like when traditions are being pulled apart,” she said. “And even for us in the military, now that we have AI-generated warfare, there are people like me asking, ‘What about our traditions? What about actual warfare where you can see the other person? What is it going to feel like and look like when we’re not actually close to the enemy?’” If the Bluebards are a place for its military warriors to have training to empathy, compassion and understanding, the Air Force Academy must make a place for “Fiddler on the Roof.” Note: The Denver Gazette True West Awards, now in their 25th and final year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community throughout December by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations. Cast members Hailey Reynolds, center left, and Sienna Groves, center right, embrace as they listen to Dr. Marc Napolitano, the theater club’s officer in charge, recite the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V—a longstanding opening night tradition—on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Parker Seibold, The Gazette) More True West Awards coverage • Our original report on the Air Force’s ‘Legally Blonde’ • 2025 True West Awards, Day 1: Matt Zambrano • Day 2: Rattlebrain is tying up ‘Santa’s Big Red Sack’ • Day 3: Mission Possible: Phamaly alumni make national impact • Day 4: Jeff Campbell invites you to join him on the dark side • Day 5: Cleo Parker Robinson is flying high at 77 • Day 6: Mirror images: Leslie O’Carroll and Olivia Wilson • Day 7: Philip Sneed will exit Arvada Center on a high • Day 8: Ed Reinhardt’s magic stage run ends after 27 years • Day 9: Costume Designer Nikki Harrison • Day 10: DU’s tech interns getting the job done • Day 11: Husbands, wives keep home fire burning • Day 12: Denver School of the Arts’ Drama Dash • Day 13: Theater as a powerful response to violence • Day 14: Elitch Theatre no longer a ghost town • Day 15: A double play for playwright Luke Sorge ...read more read less