“Pretty Woman” the Musical

[rating=4]When it was announced that Broadway In Chicago would be hosting a pre-Broadway musical based on the famous Touchstone movie written by J.F. Lawton, “Pretty Woman”,I felt that they may have bitten off more than they could chew on this one! After all, this is an iconic film that brought the world of the  hooker and the businessman out in the open and Julia Roberts and Richard Gere made the film a special event for a great number of young women. We have also seen other movies converted to staged musicals, and many of those have fallen short of our expectations. On the other hand, there is always a chance that there is that fine line in the creation of the new version that hits the audience where it feels good!

Tonight, at the Oriental Theatre, I saw for myself that the stage musical retelling of this movie story with a book by Lawton and Garry Marshall and music and lyrics by Bryan Adama & Jim Vallance, I saw the light. It could be converted into a stage musical that would grab an audience. Directed by Jerry Mitchell, who also did the choreography, and who loves doing his new shows for our Chicago audiences in preparation for his New York opening, this is a tightly knit telling of the story of the very modern-day Cinderella, Vivian (  Samantha Barks is perfect in her character), a hooker with a dream of a better life. By chance, she meets Edward ( a dynamic performance by Steve Kazee, who has a great vocal range and moves well), a powerful businessman, who gets lost in Hollywood and turns to Vivian to be his live-in date for the week of meetings and parties while he closes the biggest deal of his life.

This is in fact a “happily ever after” play with some powerful songs that help to propel the story-telling and a vibrant cast of player to make it happen. The story has a sort of Narrator, who takes on many faces: He is called The Happy Man and also later the Hotel Manager, Mr. Thompson and is played to perfection by Eric Anderson. In fact, he handles a few other little parts as well. While I remarked to some other patrons that this show has no big musical number that stands out , his number “Don’t Forget To Dance” comes very close to a “show-stopper”. Orfeh as Kit DeLuca, Vivian’s “boss/mentor” is adorable and the very agile Tommy Bracco as Giulio is terrific. The other cast members add a great deal of energy to the show: Jason Danieley, Kingsley eggs, Jennifer Sanchez, Robby Clater, Anna Eilinsfeld, Brian Cali, Alison Blackwell,  Lauren Lim Jackson, Renee Marino, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Jillian Mueller, Jake Odmark, Matthew Stocke, Alex Michael Stoll, Alan Wiggins and Darius Wright- great job! These are the people who re-inforce my philosophy- the ensemble is the power behind the performance!

The music is, as I stated earlier , not memorable, but very story-telling. I loved “Welcome To Hollywood”, “Rodeo Drive”, “Freedom”, “You’re Beautiful”, “Never Give Up On A Dream” and “You and I”. These are probably the best of the numbers. But I am sure others preferred different songs, and who knows- by the time they hit New York and Broadway, they may have three new numbers! The orchestra conducted by Will Van Dyke, who also handles the keyboards is sensational and the sets (David Rockwell) and costumes (Greg Barnes) are certainly Broadway quality. We know that they plan to take this to the next step and based on the reaction from the opening night audience, it will be a successful show. I don’t think it will win any Tony Awards, but for those who loved the movie ( about half of the audience knew every scene) this is a must-see. The nice part of the show is that even if you never saw the original movie or even were aware of the storyline, this production would make for an evening of solid entertainment. Yes, the theme is adult and there is some adult language, but to be honest, I think most 8 years olds know more “swear words” than we do.

“Pretty Woman” the Musical will continue at The Oriental Theatre located  at 24 West Randolph Street thru April 15th with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  7:30 p.m.

Wednesdays  7:30 p.m.

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  8 p.m.

Sundays  7:30 p.m.

matinees are Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. with an extra added April 4th and April 11th at 2 p.m.

Running time of the show  2 hours and 25 minutes with one 15 minute intermission)

Tickets range from $33- $125 and can be purchased at any of the Broadway In Chicago box offices, by calling the Ticketline at 800-775-2000 or online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Pretty Woman” the Musical!