Pretty Woman Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 2nd April 2024 Review
Pretty Woman is at the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 2 Apr - Sat 13 April) and this stage musical of the now classic 1990 film of the same name starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts was obviously proving the enduring popularity of the latter as the theatre was full tonight.
Despite its huge popularity at the box office at the time of the film, it did also attract adverse criticism for potentially glamorising prostitution to some young women who hoped that they too could find their fairy tale ending with their very own very rich businessman who would sweep them off the streets and into their very own penthouse apartments. The reality of life on the streets of Los Angeles, or anywhere else in the world, is far from that depicted in the film and this stage musical, and that is perhaps its enduring charm, it is a modern day fairy tale, a Cinderella story for our times.
Instead of the grim, dark and often dangerous world that this “Pretty Woman”, Vivian Ward (Amber Davies) and her friends and colleagues inhabit, we have a sugar-coated fantasy land where dreams can come true, especially when a very wealthy businessman, Edward Lewis (Oliver Savile) gets lost and finds himself in your part of town.
Pretty Woman is a bit of an odd show, however, as despite the fairy tale setting and sentiments of the story, there are still some really emotionally dark moments in this production and I for one found the character of Vivian Ward to be one so often full of sadness, a bit like Sally Bowles in Cabaret. The only difference between the two is that, here, Vivian knows exactly what her life is like and has no pretentions about what she does to pay her rent money.
A large part of the ability of this production to skilfully walk that tight-rope between fantasy and reality is the team behind this stage production, and their individual and combined talents and skills do make this a bit of a dream team.
Music and lyrics are by Bryan Adams, who has written some great songs over the years, and Jim Vallance. It is here in the lyrics that the sadness and reality of Vivian’s life is exposed, just listen carefully to “Anywhere But Here” and a few other songs. It is here that Amber Davies gets the opportunity to display that she has both the fragility and the toughness to portray her character so well.
Every good “Cinderella” fairy story needs a handsome prince (well a traditional one anyhow), and here Oliver Savile as Edward Lewis fits that role perfectly with a light performance style that is so needed for a rom-com fantasy. There is nothing light however about Oliver’s vocal performances though, and it is here that his obvious experience as a musical stage performer really shows. Oliver Savile and Amber Davies work well together here, both in the musical numbers and the dramatic parts of this show. There are also plenty of opportunities for Natalie Paris as Vivian’s friend and mentor, Kit De Luca, to show off the power of her vocal abilities.
Although this story focuses on Vivian and Edward, a large part of the stage performance time is given over to Ore Oduba – Happy Man/Mr Thompson and he is so well cast in these roles with some really good individual performances and he often steals a scene or two from everyone around him too.
Pretty Woman also has some fine attention paid to the detailing of late 1980s costumes and makes clever use of a set that is obviously designed for touring whilst allowing for some very slick scene changes when required. Some very nice choreography also lets this production pay its own homage to those great song and dance numbers of Hollywood musicals of the past.
It would have been nice if this show could have retained some of the now classic songs that were in the original film, but the new material captures that era so well. One classic song from the 1960s of course still had to stay here and there are no prizes for guessing which one.
Pretty Woman is what it is, a chance to enter the fantasy world of a modern day fairy tale and just forget what is going on in the outside world (including the rain tonight) and enjoy the show.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Despite its huge popularity at the box office at the time of the film, it did also attract adverse criticism for potentially glamorising prostitution to some young women who hoped that they too could find their fairy tale ending with their very own very rich businessman who would sweep them off the streets and into their very own penthouse apartments. The reality of life on the streets of Los Angeles, or anywhere else in the world, is far from that depicted in the film and this stage musical, and that is perhaps its enduring charm, it is a modern day fairy tale, a Cinderella story for our times.
Instead of the grim, dark and often dangerous world that this “Pretty Woman”, Vivian Ward (Amber Davies) and her friends and colleagues inhabit, we have a sugar-coated fantasy land where dreams can come true, especially when a very wealthy businessman, Edward Lewis (Oliver Savile) gets lost and finds himself in your part of town.
Pretty Woman is a bit of an odd show, however, as despite the fairy tale setting and sentiments of the story, there are still some really emotionally dark moments in this production and I for one found the character of Vivian Ward to be one so often full of sadness, a bit like Sally Bowles in Cabaret. The only difference between the two is that, here, Vivian knows exactly what her life is like and has no pretentions about what she does to pay her rent money.
A large part of the ability of this production to skilfully walk that tight-rope between fantasy and reality is the team behind this stage production, and their individual and combined talents and skills do make this a bit of a dream team.
Music and lyrics are by Bryan Adams, who has written some great songs over the years, and Jim Vallance. It is here in the lyrics that the sadness and reality of Vivian’s life is exposed, just listen carefully to “Anywhere But Here” and a few other songs. It is here that Amber Davies gets the opportunity to display that she has both the fragility and the toughness to portray her character so well.
Every good “Cinderella” fairy story needs a handsome prince (well a traditional one anyhow), and here Oliver Savile as Edward Lewis fits that role perfectly with a light performance style that is so needed for a rom-com fantasy. There is nothing light however about Oliver’s vocal performances though, and it is here that his obvious experience as a musical stage performer really shows. Oliver Savile and Amber Davies work well together here, both in the musical numbers and the dramatic parts of this show. There are also plenty of opportunities for Natalie Paris as Vivian’s friend and mentor, Kit De Luca, to show off the power of her vocal abilities.
Although this story focuses on Vivian and Edward, a large part of the stage performance time is given over to Ore Oduba – Happy Man/Mr Thompson and he is so well cast in these roles with some really good individual performances and he often steals a scene or two from everyone around him too.
Pretty Woman also has some fine attention paid to the detailing of late 1980s costumes and makes clever use of a set that is obviously designed for touring whilst allowing for some very slick scene changes when required. Some very nice choreography also lets this production pay its own homage to those great song and dance numbers of Hollywood musicals of the past.
It would have been nice if this show could have retained some of the now classic songs that were in the original film, but the new material captures that era so well. One classic song from the 1960s of course still had to stay here and there are no prizes for guessing which one.
Pretty Woman is what it is, a chance to enter the fantasy world of a modern day fairy tale and just forget what is going on in the outside world (including the rain tonight) and enjoy the show.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com