Pretty Woman: The Musical @ Fair Park Music Hall (Broadway Dallas)
—Martha Heimberg
In the 1990 megahit film Pretty Woman, a rich corporate raider hires a knowing young hooker for a week of gorgeous girlfriend pretense—whereupon she gets into his wallet, his pants, and his heart, in that order. Pretty Woman: The Musical, which opened on Broadway in 2018, doesn’t change the plot, but adds a soft-rock score and forgettable songs (with hackneyed lyrics, by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance), and a book by Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton, who wrote the original film script.
Hence, movie fans will hear many memorable lines lifted from the original, inspired by Roy Orbison’s song, “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Curtain call alert: if you want to hear that song, you must wait until the show is done and bows are taken. Only then does a guitarist come out to serenade the audience—letting us leave with a truly memorable smash hit ringing in our ears.
All that said, an energetic, talented young company of singers and dancers in the touring production (presented by Broadway Dallas at the Music Hall at Fair Park) scores noisy applause throughout, especially for director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s fresh, playful dance numbers. Conductor and keyboardist Daniel Klintworth rises from the pit mid-performance for well-deserved applause. Everybody cheered some delightful comic performances, and even a terrific soprano turn (from Jade Amber) in the hooker-goes-to-the-opera scene.
On Wednesday press night, understudy Carissa Gaughran replaced Jessie Davidson as a sensual, vulnerable Vivian Ward, opposite Adam Pascal as Edward Lewis—in uptight mode as the ruthless trader prepared to wreck a California shipping company with a board-bribed buyout. Gaughran’s singing is sincere if not memorable, and she brings some real fire to “I Can’t Go Back,” an otherwise trite song that could go soapy with a lesser singer.
Whip thin and delivering dialogue with restrained elegance, Lewis for some reason shifts to a country twang when he launches into his songs. Maybe the ghost of Roy Orbison channeling through? His appeal increases as he transforms into Vivian’s “white knight” and recognizes the changes she’s made to his outlook on what wealth can and can’t buy, singing “Freedom” with some reformed-renegade soul.
Jessica Crouch, a strong and stylish dancer, plays Kit De Luca, an aptly tough-but-tender aging prostitute who heads up the regulars working in front of the Blue Banana Club on Hollywood Boulevard. Kit advises naïve Vivian to a) get paid upfront and b) never kiss a trick on the mouth. Too emotional. Kit tells it like it is. When Vivian asks her to name one rags-to-riches example of a woman who actually got the life she’s glimpsed as Edward’s hired arm candy, Kit shouts “Cinder Fuckin’ Ella!”—just like in the movie.
The scene stealers of the production are Trent Soyster as the balletic bellboy Giulio, a stunning dancer in a show with an ensemble of eighteen hot Broadway level high-kickers. Soyster is a comic delight in the inventive dance lesson scene, with the discreet hotel manager Travis Ward-Osborne doubling as a ballroom dancing instructor. The sharp male dancers join in the hilarious, expert spoof in an almost all-dude fancy waltz scene. Vivian is squeezed in sweetly between two dancers, to let her learn the steps for the big dinner dance coming up.
David Rockwell’s handsome projected sets, highlighted with neon signs, open up the stage for the 30-member cast, and keep scenes moving swiftly from a suite at the Biltmore to a polo game, and then back to the hookers’ hangout.
Gregg Barnes’ costumes for street people are bright and varied, and the gorgeous dresses in the snooty high-fashion shop scenes float before us with delicious color and texture. For sure, all the gals in the audience must envy Vivian when she’s sent on a Rodeo Drive shopping spree with the style-wise hotel manager, Edward’s credit card, and instructions to buy an entire new wardrobe. Oh, if one must.
The show sags on the ballads, but there’s enough bounce in the dance numbers to carry us through to the determined happy ending. Pretty Woman: The Musical is fun in places, but even with Orbison’s sexy ode to desire ringing in your ears, the whole premise of paid sexual transactions leading to true love reminds you to take Kit’s good advice. You’ve been entertained, but you’re not required to kiss the trick in My Fair Hooker.
WHEN: Through February 5 in Dallas; February 7-12 in Fort Worth
WHERE: The Music Hall at Fair Park, Dallas (Broadway Dallas/Germania Insurance Broadway Series); moving to Bass Performance Hall (Performing Arts Fort Worth) February 7-12
