Hello, Fox Theatre. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.
It’s been a minute, or since the first week of March 2020, since I had stepped inside one of the most beautifully ornate theaters you’ll find anywhere.
I wasn’t prepared for how happy it made me feel to be back sitting in an audience full of people (masked people with verified vaccination status, but still) experiencing live musical theater.
And what was the show that ushered in a sense of normalcy after 19 months of low-grade dread and lunacy? Now through Nov. 28 at the Fox Theatre it’s “Pretty Woman: The Musical!” So, yea.
It’s usually a dicey proposition when you turn a well-known movie into a musical. It always makes me think of “The Simpsons” when they went to see “Stop the Planet of the Apes I Want To Get Off” on Broadway. “I hate every ape I see, from chim-pan-a to chimpanzee.”
So here we have “Pretty Woman,” the beloved 1980s take on “Cinderella” that launched Julia Roberts’ career into the stratosphere, given a musical twist some 30 years later.
The plot of this charming little romantic comedy is simple enough as billionaire playboy Edward Lewis (Adam Pascal, an original cast member from “Rent”) has a meet-cute with prostitute Vivian Ward (Olivia Valli, granddaughter of Frankie Valli) on Hollywood Boulevard.
Edward hires Vivian to be his escort for the week to accompany him to various business functions. Romance and high society ridicule ensues.
The show is a faithful retelling of the movie and the cast and production values are in top form, even if the songs are not super great.
If you are a fan of “Pretty Woman” you will be charmed and thrilled by this production. If you are not, this show isn’t going to be changing any hearts and minds.
“Pretty Woman: The Musical” is just fine and after the year and a half we’ve been through, “just fine” feels pretty fantastic.
“Pretty Woman: The Musical” is now playing at the Fox Theatre through Nov. 28. For tickets call (314)-534-1111 or go to metrotix.com.
