Pretty Woman: The Musical? Yes, it was a pleasure doing business

6 hours ago 2

Pretty Woman: The Musical ★★★
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, until November 23

The 1990 film Pretty Woman copped flak at the time for its rose-tinted depiction of sex work, but if anything, its portrayal of billionaires has dated worse.

Imagine – a billionaire who falls in love and decides to put people ahead of profits! Sheer, laughable fantasy.

So it’s just as well the film’s musical version keeps the action confined to the late ’80s-early ’90s, with giant cellphones, off-the-shoulder gowns, Sony Walkmans and songs by Bryan Adams.

The film was famously conceived as a dark drama until the execs at Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures recognised its fairytale potential and turned a cautionary tale into a feelgood romance.

As devised by the film’s original director and screenwriter, (the late) Garry Marshall and JF Lawton, the musical adaptation amplifies the film’s emotional beats to an effect that is sometimes thrilling, sometimes campy.

You know the story: corporate raider Edward Lewis hires Hollywood Boulevard escort Vivian Ward for a week, little expecting that their business arrangement will become something deeper.

To try to replicate the one-in-a-million, star-making chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere may seem like a fool’s errand, but Samantha Jade and Ben Hall give it a red-hot go.

While X-Factor winner Jade lacks Roberts’ imposing height and megawatt smile, her Vivian strikes many of the right notes: playfully seductive, sassy but yearning.

Her interpretation of the character’s famous quips mostly land well: “I appreciate this whole seduction thing you’ve got going on here,” she tells Edward, “but let me give you a tip: I’m a sure thing.” And of course, she’s also a polished singer and dancer.

The production is travelling to Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Hall, meanwhile, channels something of Gere’s poised and detached air, and has a strong tenor voice well adapted to AM radio-style power ballads.

Two of the film’s best supporting characters – the fairy godfather hotel manager Mr Thompson, and the obsequious shop assistant eager to “suck up” – are played by the terrific Tim Omaji, who also inhabits the narrator role of Mr Happy.

Michelle Brasier gets to show off her vocal prowess as Vivian’s streetwise roommate and colleague Kit, while Douglas Hansell’s take on Edward’s lawyer is every bit as odious as the film’s pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander.

Choreography by the show’s Tony-winning director Jerry Mitchell (recreated by Rusty Mowery) was executed flawlessly on opening night, with its strutting squad of happy hookers and hustlers, a sparkling tango sequence and some unabashed disco dancing.

Rather than employ a Broadway lyricist, the show teams Adams with his longtime collaborator Jim Vallance, co-writer of hits Summer of ’69 and Heaven. The result is a good old-fashioned rock musical with strong melodies and some tasty guitar licks (courtesy of ace band members Toby Loveland and Kuki Tipoki).

The show may tease the titular Roy Orbison song – which does show up, eventually – but surprisingly, there’s no shortage of good tunes. Lyrically, however, the songs are never in any danger of revealing anything surprising about the characters.

Coming at the tail end of the 1980s, Pretty Woman interrogated the empty promises of rampant capitalism and how a purely transactional lifestyle alienates people from themselves and each other. A stage revival could have a lot to say about our current times, but after a certain point it’s clear this show is simply about nostalgia for a beloved bit of IP.

Yet such wonderfully executed nostalgia! As Vivian would say: it was a business doing pleasure with you.

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