REVIEW: Pretty Woman at Mayflower Theatre

Can you help me find Beverly Hills? Let’s take a trip to Hollywood Boulevard, and stop at Mayflower Theatre as it welcomes ‘Pretty Woman’, the smash-hit musical to Southampton. Now this is a fairly new musical with a 2018 Broadway debut and 2020 West-End debut, based (of course) on the 1990 Julia Roberts and Richard Gere rom-com of the same name; and I’ve got to say that the production values and performances of this tour are exactly what you’d expect from a Broadway musical. Musical adaptations of movies are extremely hit and miss, but I personally think this works really well in a musical format. It didn’t feel forced, the story was easily understandable when dialogue was swapped for songs, and the energy, comedy, and romance certainly wasn’t lacking!

Was the musical cheesy? Yes. At times, yes. But isn’t that part of why people love a musical? Was this musical funny? Well it definitely had me and the whole auditorium laughing. Adapted by the movies original director Gary Marshall and screenwriter J.F. Lawton, the scenes and scripting is almost word for word/scene for scene alike. But of course there is the music aspect of the musical, and who better to write this rock score than 80’s rock royalty Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. No, ‘ Summer of ’69 ’ doesn’t appear, but another famous song that relates to the musical might…

As a brief rundown, the story follows a rich entrepreneur who hires a hooker to accompany him to a few social events before they slowly fall in love with each other and try to bridge the gap between their very different worlds. After all, anything is possible. This is Hollywood, land of dreams.

This touring cast was fantastic! The singing was exceptional, the dancing was super energetic, and it was just all around really fun and funny. Playing ‘Vivian Ward’ tonight was swing and understudy Rebekah Bryant. She was just brilliant, and she definitely gives Julia Roberts a run for her money. With a performance like that, you wouldn’t believe that she isn’t fronting the show night in night out and I’m so glad that I got to see her in that role. ‘Edward Lewis’ was played by Oliver Savile who literally embodied Richard Gere’s portrayal of the character, and the on stage connection he had with Rebekah felt incredibly natural. ‘Mr Thompson/Happy Man’ and others was played by Ore Oduba and all I can say is Bravo! I don’t use this word lightly, but his performance was sensational. Literally outstanding. He was funny, his dancing was top level, and the singing was amazing. If he doesn’t get at least nominated for an awards, I will be extremely surprised. As far as singing goes, ‘Kit de Luca’ was played by Natalie Paris who gave one of the best and most effortless vocal performances that I have ever seen on stage. Overall this was an amazing cast that knows how to ‘Work it baby, Work it!’.

When it comes to the set, as I have already mentioned, it is exactly as you would expect for a Broadway musical. Big pieces of moving set, lots of flats flying in and around and it was all interactive. The movement between the penthouse suite, to the stores, or the lobby of the hotel was seamless. A particular highlight was the way in which they portrayed the opera scene. Very creative and again not straying too far from the movie. The lighting was also of very high quality. Bright colours, moving/flashing to follow the pace of the story, and they elevated all of the musical/dance numbers perfectly. Nothing groundbreaking, but impressive and did its job perfectly.

How can we talk about a musical without mentioning the music. The score is a perfect nod to 80’s rock and again it fits perfectly with this particular musical. With the style, the story, and the performers it has. There are some incredibly impressive ballads in this original soundtrack, that when sang tonight left the crowd breathless. My only gripe would be that none of the songs are particularly memorable. Well apart from one, but that is a song in its own right and is also the name of the musical. Usually when I leave a musical, there’s at least one song that I will find myself humming along to, but apart from Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’, I genuinely cannot remember any unfortunately. This of course isn’t to take away from the performances, just something I wish was perhaps thought about in the writing of the soundtrack.

A big aspect of this musical is also the dance, and it was fantastic. I never saw ‘Pretty Woman’ when it was on the West End so I’m not sure if dance was always as big of an aspect then as it was tonight or not. The fact that a lot of the dance revolves around Ore Oduba’s characters may just be perfect casting considering his Strictly Come Dancing history, but the way they throw nods to it and play on it, adds to the comedic factor in the most perfect way. I always like when the writing can subliminally break the fourth wall in such a way that isn’t cheesy.

Overall, I was really impressed with this musical and pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I had never seen the movie before but I did know the plot and a fair few of the popular moments/quotes. This musical is littered with those big movie moments and as I mentioned before, it is practically word for word with the movie at times. The only reason I know that is because I came home and stuck the movie on as I am currently writing this (great movie by the way!). I cannot praise the cast highly enough tonight. I wish I had time to give more of them shout outs. The energy levels were high, the comedy was high, and the story was super easy to follow. Pacing on musical adaptations of movies is always something that seems to let them down, but in all honesty I think this was to a better pace than the actual movie itself. It’s nothing special as far as musicals go, but it does exactly as it says on the tin. It’s a bit of fun, and it’s that extra bit cheesier than the movie is. What more could you ask for?

‘Pretty Woman’ is on Mayflower Theatre’s stage until July 27th and if you’re a fan of the movie, or just a fan of a rom-com in general, this musical is for you. I wish all of the cast and crew the best of luck with the rest of tour, so take care of you guys. And for you guys reading this, you’d be idiots to miss it.

I’d go as far to say that it would be a big mistake.

Big.

HUGE!