For the most part it sounds like the Pretty Woman musical was more about Vivian than it was anyone or anything else as the production seemed highly bland next to her performance, if you ask the critics. The story stayed very true to the original movie it would seem but the performances and the rest of the play just feels as though it didn’t wow people enough to be called anything but mediocre. Of course there’s a lot that can be lost in translation between a movie and a play and as a result this can mean that whoever is on point will shine all that much brighter while those that don’t live up to the original roles will seem as though they’re just acting as placeholders. It’s a rather brutal way to say it but it’s kind of true.
If you recall the film was a kind of princess story in which Vivian was the woman that was waiting to be swept off of her feet, though she wasn’t waiting for just anyone. She wanted that Prince Charming type, the Captain America that would scale a tower for her and take her away from the life she was living to something so much better. Edward was, more or less, the man who had a history of being vicious in the board room and clueless anywhere else. His level of human interaction had more to do with the manner in which he slayed in business and less in how he actually was as a human being. It would seem in the play however the character of Edward was just as much of a fumbler as ever, but far more so since he made the character of Vivian shine all that much brighter. In other words there wasn’t a lot of balance to this production is what it sounds like.
A play is so much more critical when it comes to the players and the settings since everything has to absolutely perfect or the flub has to be absorbed into the performance and the show has to go on. There’s no director to yell cut and there’s no way to really erase the mistake in the minds of the audience. Of course if the critics see it, and they see everything, they’ll pounce like wolves and the production will suffer all the more. Pretty Woman is a classic story and one that deserves to be told in a very vibrant and yet somehow dissonant voice so that it can convey the real feelings that Vivian and Edward are going through. In this production it just felt like there was too much lacking on the part of Edward and the others while Vivian was allowed to be the bright star that she was, but one that was standing alone in the middle of an otherwise drab setting. That seems to be how some of the critics are describing it anyway.
Honestly it seemed like it had more of a chance, but it could be that it did better than critics are saying.
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