United Kingdom Pretty Woman – The Musical: Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, 6.8.2024. (JPr)
What can I say? This is yet another musical based on a seminal film I have never seen, Garry Marshall’s 1990 Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and a young – and the relatively unknown at the time – Julia Roberts. I understand that in adapting it for the stage Marshall and J. F. Lawton (who wrote the original screenplay) have retained many of the iconic moments from the movie whilst adding music and lyrics by Canadian singer Bryan Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance.
Adams is probably most famous for ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ (written with Michael Kamen, and Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange), from the soundtrack of the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. None of the power ballads in Pretty Woman: The Musical come anywhere near that, and the rest is soft rock, hard rock and pure uptempo pop, to tap your feet or briefly clap your hands to. Even though the music was brilliantly accompanied by a small unseen band of six (lead by Griff Johnson on the keyboards) and impressively sung by the entire cast, I believe I would have enjoyed Pretty Woman just as much as a straight play. As an alternative – and as with another recent Richard Gere-inspired musical, An Officer and a Gentleman (review here) – maybe raiding the catalogue of iconic 1990s songs might have worked better.
Regardless Pretty Woman – The Musical is undoubted the musical I have enjoyed most at the Cliffs Pavilion recently. For two-and-a-half hours just forget about the sordid tales there’s been about Hollywood fame-seekers, #MeToo and the predatory men you read about in the press every day, including one who is running to become POTUS once again. He certainly cannot be far from your mind in the rags-to-riches, Cinderella/Prince Charming, Pygmalion/My Fair Lady story of unscrupulous, morally bankrupt capitalist, billionaire with daddy issues, Edward Lewis, who with his gang of lawyers wants to asset-strip an ailing business, Morse Shipyard, and fire its workers. Edward seems to have a history of treating his girlfriends much like the businesses he deals with and lacking company in Los Angeles encounters a genuine ‘tart-with-a-heart’, Vivian Ward, on Hollywood Boulevard and after paying her first for directions to his hotel, the Beverley Wilshire, then for an hour’s fun, then the entire night, he ends up negotiating $3,000 for Vivian to stay with him for his six days in the city.
Ensconced at the Wilshire Vivian is blissfully ignorant of the etiquette of being there, as well as finding herself out of her depth mixing with the posh people at a polo club or failing to best the snobby assistants of a clothes store on Rodeo Drive (though they do get their comeuppance in the end). Possibly the eternal optimist, Vivian never really lets any of the slights she suffers overwhelm her and she is determined to meet life head on. And especially as, despite Vivian saying ‘It was a business doing pleasure with you’, she has much ultimately to teach Edward – who also realises he wants better for himself – about life and love. In the end both Vivian and Edward are emancipated, redeemed and changed forever.
Rather like, I believe, Clarence Odbody, the guardian angel character in Frank Capra’s 1946 It’s a Wonderful Life (another famous film I have never watched!), Pretty Woman’s ‘Happy Man’ is almost ever-present in one guise or another as the fairy godfather (!) ensuring love wins out in the end. In the opening ‘Welcome to Hollywood’ Happy Man sings ‘Tell me what’s your dream, I know you’ve got one. It’s like a map to your life, you’ll be lost until you’ve caught one’. Later we’ll hear from him how ‘You’ll see me here and you’ll see me there … You just might see me everywhere’ which explains how the exceptionally talented Ore Oduba lights up the stage whenever he is on it as Happy Man or Mr Thompson, the Beverly Wilshire hotel manager, or whomever.
Oduba is a triple threat as comic actor, singer and, of course, dancer and relishes the line ‘I used to be a professional ballroom dancer’. This is a gift for him before the show-stealing tango of ‘Don’t Forget to Dance’ – and a nod to Oduba’s time on Strictly Come Dancing – with the hugely engaging Noah Harrison as Guilio, the hotel’s bellhop, who simply can’t stop himself joining in all the fun whenever he is onstage.
The 1990s costumes are colourful, and I understand are a nod to what is seen in the original movie. The scenery such as it is, since it mostly neon-lit and garish, works well – with the minimum of stage furniture – to provide the backdrop to the various scenes. Although often framed by stylised LA palms trees, however it was never really tawdry enough for Hollywood/Sunset Boulevard or as opulent as Rodeo Drive or the Wilshire.
It is astonishing to think that the company have been touring since last October as they performed with such infectious joie de vivre and everyone deserves the highest praise. Especially noteworthy is that for this performance we saw two understudies in leading roles and they were so good it made you wonder why they didn’t have those roles in the first place.
Amber Davies brought Vivian Ward to real life and displayed her character’s true intelligence and tenacity. I believe Davies is a true musical theatre star in the ascendency. Another fine comic actor, Davies has great stage presence, an impressive voice, and her vocal highlight was a determined ‘I Won’t Go Back’. There was palpable chemistry with Ben Darcy as Edward Lewis (taking over from Oliver Savile). The take on Lewis here is that he is not completely evil but just believes he is in the right until Vivian shows him the error of his ways. Darcy is an outstanding singer and you could hear every word he sang (not a given in musicals) and the burgeoning romance was clear for all to hear in his ‘Something About Her’ and ‘You and I’.
Great performances elsewhere from the iron-lunged Natalie Paris as Vivian’s loyal flatmate and fellow streetwalker Kit de Luca who longs for a better life too; Stuart McIver as Philip, Edward’s disagreeable partner (the role Darcy usually performs!); Chomba Taulo as the gentlemanly businessman David Morse; and finally Lila Falce-Bass and Josh Damer-Jennings as the La traviata singers in the opera house scene – their storyline echoes that of Pretty Woman – whose amazing vocal agility had me wondering if they were miming, though I’m happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.
With the audience deservedly on their feet during the curtain calls it was time to hear Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman title song that had been alluded to during the show: it made for the perfect finale.
Jim Pritchard
Featured Image: Ore Oduba (Mr Thompson) and Company © Marc Brenner
Creatives:
Music and Lyrics – Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance
Book – Garry Marshall and J. F. Lawton
Director and Choreographer – Jerry Mitchell
Original Broadway Costume design – Gregg Barnes
Scenic design – David Rockwell
Costume design – Tom Rogers
Original Broadway Costume design – Gregg Barnes
Lighting design – Kenneth Posner and Philip S Rosenberg
Sound design – John Shivers
Musical director – Griff Johnson
Cast included:
Amber Davies – Vivian Ward
Ben Darcy – Edward Lewis
Natalie Paris – Kit De Luca
Ore Oduba – Happy Man / Mr Thompson
Stuart McIver – Philip Stuckey
Chomba Taulo – David Morse
Josh Damer-Jennings – Alfredo
Lila Falce-Bass – Violetta / Bag Lady
Noah Harrison – Giulio