WHEN Garry Marshall and J F Lawton decided to adapt their 28 year old big screen hit Pretty Woman for the stage in 2018, with music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Valance, it met with something of a lukewarm reception on Broadway. Five years and a much more successful West End run later, the show is pulling big crowds in its first UK tour, headlined by TV presenter turned song and dance man Ore Oduba in the dual roles of Happy Man and Mr Thompson.
Oduba’s characters get to act as occasional narrator in a piece that, unlike many similar shows, works very hard to ensure that the story isn’t swamped by the music. A mistake that many writers make in adapting their own screen work for the stage is to assume that their audience will have seen the film, but Marshall and Lawton have cannily avoided this pitfall and the storytelling here is solid and clearly presented in dialogue, so a generation who have never watched the picture can still enjoy it.
A sort of 21st century My Fair Lady, Pretty Woman follows the fortunes of Vivian Ward, a rough-talking prostitute who is hired for the week to accompany hot-shot businessman Edward Lewis around town in the absence of his estranged wife. With the help of some unlikely allies Vivian polishes up her appearance to rise to the occasion, and inadvertently melts the previously stony heart of Lewis. As stories go, the notion that a man’s head can be turned by a woman so long as she smartens herself up a bit is almost certainly past its sell by date, but audiences still go for a good dose of old fashioned romance. That is exactly what Pretty Woman became when Roberts and Gere were cast in the movie, and that’s what it remains on the stage.
Elly Jay steps up to play Vivian in this week’s performances in Liverpool, opposite Oliver Saville as Edward. Jay gets an early opportunity to exercise her vocal chords in ‘Anywhere but Here’ and pretty much brings the house down before the show is ten minutes old. Having a long list of swing and ensemble roles in her repertoire, she absolute screams of star quality and richly deserves the multiple ovations she gets throughout the show. Saville is fine casting as the stuffed-shirt Edward, looking every inch the businessman, but he too has a belter of a voice which really impresses in his relatively few solo numbers.
Among the supporting cast are several other outstanding voices, notably in the role of Vivian’s best friend Kit, and a spectacular cameo for Lila Falce-Bass as Violetta in the opera scene. Stealing every scene that he appears in, however, is Noah Harrison as the bell-hop Giulio. Harrison is slight of frame but big on gestures, and while his part has few words his expressive personality speaks volumes, and he brings tremendous humour into every appearance. He may possibly have got one of the biggest and most deserved cheers in the walk-down at the end.
David Rockwell’s slick and stylish set is cleverly lit by Kenneth Posner and Philip S Rosenberg, and the pit orchestra directed by Griff Johnson and Christopher Duffy accompanies the cast sympathetically, allowing us to hear the lyrics as well as the rock-inspired soundtrack.
Whilst the story of Pretty Woman is very definitely last century, the musical succeeds in bringing some dignity to the women in the narrative, and the music, although not entirely memorable has a timeless quality. The one song you are likely to be humming on the bus the next day is Roy Orbison’s 1964 hit, which supplied the inspiration for the original film and inevitably appears at the end.
Pretty Woman is at Liverpool Empire until 3rd February and availability is now limited for all performances, so book quickly if you don’t want to miss it. The show then continues touring, visiting a further 23 UK venues until the autumn.
Star rating: 3½ stars
Review by Nigel Smith
