Pretty Woman The Musical: Review

Pretty Woman The Musical Synopsis: One of the most beloved romances of all time is now an original Broadway musical!

Pretty Woman: The Musical features direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde, Hairspray), an original score by Grammy® winner Bryan Adams (“Summer of ’69,” “Everything I Do”) and his longtime songwriting partner Jim Vallance, and a book by the movie’s legendary director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J.F. Lawton.

I’m always curious to see how Broadway will take an existing movie and insert song and dance. I don’t get to the theater often (which is odd given both major theaters in Columbus are literally next door and across the street from where I work), but for Valentine’s Day, my husband got me tickets to see Pretty Woman The Musical so needless to say, I was pretty excited. Pretty Woman, despite how outdated it really is, is a rom-com classic.

I read that Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance wrote the music, and hey, it’s Bryan Adams! So I had high hopes.

Olivia Valli and Adam Pascal take on the iconic roles of Vivian Ward and Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman The Musical, and sadly, the constant song and dance take away from their developing relationship. I didn’t get “cutthroat businessman” from Pascal’s performance, so Edward’s arc toward falling in love and becoming a better person fell flat.

Valli has a lovely voice, but it got overwhelmed quite a bit by the much more vocally talented Pascal and Jessica Crouch, who plays Vivian’s best friend, Kit DeLuca. The stage production pushed Vivian’s “I’m from Georgia!” country-bumpkinness, but Valli forces it way too much, making her come across as more child-like and dumb than adorably naïve.

Sadly, I wasn’t even taken by any of the original songs. They were uninspired and straightforward, and I’ve already forgotten the majority of them. There is no attempt to update the 1989 film, so, like the movie, a lot of the dialogue and plot points are dated, and many attempts at humor fall flat.

The bright spot of the musical, at least for me, was the performance of Michael Dalke, who was the understudy for the musical’s “fairy godfather,” both as a Hollywood Boulevard regular and as the manager of the Beverly Wilshire hotel, Barnard Thompson. The Happy Man is by far the flashiest role, and Dalke nailed it. Oh! And I also got an amazing t-shirt that says I want the fairytale, which is one of my favorite rom-com quotes. So huzzah!

Pretty Woman: The Musical is fine for a night out, but after having seen productions like West Side Story, Hamilton, and Wicked on stage, Pretty Woman The Musical just felt a bit mediocre.

Watched: 04/01/2022