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BrumHour saw Pretty Woman The Musical at the invite of The Alexandra.
By Dave Massey x.com/BrumHour
This production contains some implied sexual scenes and inferrance of attempted rape.
Review: Pretty Woman The Musical returns to The Alexandra
⭐⭐⭐⭐A Fun Adaptation
Directed by Jerry Mitchell book by Garry Marshall and J. F. Lawton music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance
On a street in Los Angeles, USA, Edward (Oliver Savile) asks a young woman called Vivian (Amber Davies) for directions to his hotel, Vivan is a sex worker and intrigued by this young woman, Edward decides to hire Vivian for her time whilst he’s in LA.
Pretty Woman The Musical is back at The Alexandra for a second week-long visit as part of its twelve-month UK tour and it is in great condition.
Whilst the subject matter seems pretty awkward, the story is filled with lots of brand-new character-driven songs, pushing the story forward without extending the running time. At the end, there’s even a chance to hear Oh, Pretty Woman during the curtain call. The music style of Bryan Adams is unmistakable but it means there are times where the production feels like country music rather than the slightly disinterested music of the late 80s and early 90s. Long-lingering stares of the film are replaced by musical thoughts as song.
Amber Davies is excellent as ever as she embodies Vivian, more than a match for Oliver Savile, there’s some slight nuance lost from the film here as Richard Gere was already a very established actor and Julia Roberts was the new kid on the block, and the age differences seem much less in this stage version. Ore Oduba and Natalie Paris are excellent as the hotel manager and Vivan’s best friend respectively. Though Noah Harrison does his best as the bellboy to steal every second he is on stage.
The sets feel large and luxurious and at times quite full with the ensemble, twisting the idea of LA being a slightly lonely place on the street into some kind of busy carnival.
The opera scene in the film is my absolute favourite and La Traviata being the basis for Pretty Woman gave this production a chance to do a full-on sequence from La Traviata which was wonderful. This is much more of an adult show than normally comes to The Alexandra and whilst the show doesn’t feature anything graphic the suggestion makes it unsuitable for under 12s.
Fans of the film might be a bit fearful of this interpretation but I really enjoyed seeing it on the stage.
Pretty Woman The Musical is a fun adaptation and is at The Alexandra until 24th August 2024. Book tickets here: atgtickets.com/shows/pretty-woman-the-musical/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham,
