Theater Review: Pretty Woman

 

                    The cast of "Pretty Woman"

If you’re up for a Cinderella story about a hooker who makes her dream come true (or if you saw the 1990 film “Pretty Woman”), you’re the audience Broadway San Diego is looking for. The plot has been transformed into a musical and is onstage at Civic Theatre through July 31.

You remember the plot: Edward Lewis is a corporate raider in need of a pretty woman on his arm as he works on his goal of taking over a particular company. 

Meanwhile Vivian Ward, a pretty girl who needs a job, tells her friend Kit D Luca that she’s moving to Hollywood to become a professional escort (i.e., hooker) in order to make some green while she figures out what she really wants to do for living.

Edward and Vivian meet, make a deal for financial/social reasons, and you can guess the rest, even if you haven’t seen the film.

The stage show is fun to watch, as the scene changes from Hollywood & Vine to the Beverly Wilshire hotel’s penthouse and spots in between. 

Stars Olivia Valli and Adam Pascal are convincing as the couple (and she really is a pretty woman, talented and a stronger character here than in the film), and the songs (by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance) add to the plot and often the fun.

I had a particularly good time with the supporting cast – the hotel staff (Michael Dalke, Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson and Jonathan Young) and Happy Man (manager of the Beverly Wilshire) Kyle Taylor Parker, who get some interesting choreography (by Jerry Mitchell) as they go about their work.

The six-person orchestra (led by Daniel Klintworth) adds sound and pizzazz to the goings-on, as do the sets (David Rockwell), lighting (Kenneth Posner and Philip S. Rosenberg), sound (John Shiver) and costumes (Gregg Barnes).

And I mustn’t forget Amma Osei, she of wondrous fine operatic pipes, who gets to sing a bit of a Violetta aria when Edward takes Vivian to the opera.

I might suggest you take some lightly sound-deadening headphones, though. The sound level of this show is downright deafening. But otherwise, it’s a great show.