Pretty Woman The Musical At Theatre Royal Nottingham Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Louise Edwards
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood this week hits Nottingham’s Theatre Royal as Pretty Woman The Musical makes a visit on its UK and Ireland tour after a run in London’s West End.
Set in the 1980, and based on the film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere and book written by Garry Marshall and J F Lawton, this is a classic rom-com with a musical twist.
The stage switches between neon lights, the Hollywood backdrop and the gritty streets to the penthouse suite at the Regent Beverley Wilshaw, the bar, polo match and opera theatre seamlessly. Stage Manager, Hayley Craven and her team, have pulled out the stops to create something really dazzling and impressive.
Starring Amber Davies (winner of 2017 Love Island and has a string of musical credits to her name) as Vivian Ward and Oliver Savile (Ted Lasso) as Edward Lewis. They both play their parts to perfection and charm the audience with their love story as we see Lewis fall for Ward after picking her up on Hollywood Boulevard when he is impressed by her knowledge of cars.
Most of the film’s memorable lines include the scene when Vivian goes shopping and is turned away from a Rodeo Drive store by the shop assistants to return the following day looking much classier to deliver the “big mistake, big huge mistake” quote we all love!
The real stars of the show for me were Strictly’s Ore Oduba who plays multiple parts including Happy Man at the beginning of the play and Mr Thompson, the manager of the Regent Beverley Wilshaw. He has fantastic charisma, comedy timing and of course singing and dancing. And also Natalie Paris who plays Vivian’s friend Kit De Luca. Olivier nominated Paris as a musical pro with an incredible voice that impressed audiences worldwide with including playing Jane Seymour in Six.
The main stars are accompanied by an incredible group of actors including Ben Darcy playing the creepy lawyer Philip Stuckey and rival business man David Morse is played by Chomba Taulo. Violetta (played by Lila Falce-Bass) and Alfredo (played by Josh Damer Jennings wows us all with their opera rendition. The ensemble and swing are all from leading training schools including Italia Conte, Bird College and Art6s Educational Schools London so I am sure these will all be leading casts in future productions.
The creative team behind this production are world class and the quality shines through.
The production is jampacked with over 20 musical numbers written by Bryan Adams and Jim Valance and the play, ends with Roy Orbison where everyone is on their feet. Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell who has received the Tony Award for Best Choreography twice, really pulls out the stops to produce a really special show.
Running for two hours and thirty five minutes including a 20 minute interval Pretty Woman The Musical is a feel good gem – get those last few seats whilst you can -audiences are in for a treat!
Rating: 4/5
Tickets are from £24.00 to £45.50
https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/pretty-woman-2024/