PRETTY WOMAN Broadway Previews- Page 3

[Marlothom]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 12:30am

The song where they say “extrordinary” a bunch of times should be replaced with “It Must Have Been Love” IMHO.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 12:30am

The song where they say “extrordinary” a bunch of times should be replaced with “It Must Have Been Love” IMHO.

[natashalost]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 12:51am

Just got home from the first preview and it was a hot mess. 

I'll go into more detail in the morning but for now, I'll say what I was thoroughly disappointed by was the set design. I love David Rockwell's sets but this was easily his worst work to date. It looks like a cheap middle school production. To see him go from She Loves Me to this is depressing. 

[Kitsune]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 1:10am

Ravenclaw said: "Would anyone mind posting a song list? I'm curious what (if anything) has been added/cut since Chicago. I found much of the show in Chicago incredibly bad, but I genuinely hope it has been improving."

Act I

"Welcome to Hollywood" (Happy Man, Kit, Company)

"Anywhere But Here" (Vivian)

"Something About Her - Part 1/Welcome to Hollywood" (reprise) (Edward, Happy Man)

"Something About Her - Part 2" (Edward)

"Luckiest Girl in the World" (Vivan, Kit, Giulio)

"Rodeo Drive" (Kit, Company)

"Anywhere But Here" (reprise)

"On a Night Like Tonight" (Mr. Thompson, Company)

"Don't Forget to Dance" (Happy Man, Scarlett, Company)

"Freedom" (Edward)

"You're Beautiful" (Edward, Vivian, Company)

Act II

"Welcome to Our World" (Stuckey and Company)

"This is My Life" (Vivian)

"Never Give Up on a Dream" (Happy Man, Kit, Company)

"The Opera" (Alfredo, Violetta)

"You and I" (Edward, Company)

"I Can't Go Back" (Vivian)

"Freedom" (reprise) (Edward)

"Long Way Home" (Vivian, Edward)

"Finale" (Company)

 

From the list of songs in the Chicago production on Wikipedia, I believe "Luckiest Girl in the World" and "Welcome to Our World" are new.

Apropos of nothing, the 3rd row mezzanine seats in the Nederlander are the most uncomfortable I've ever sat in. (I've been in economy-class airplanes seats that were better - and I'm only 5'3!) My legs were right up against the row in front of me, and my choices were either hunching very uncomfortably throughout the whole show or getting familiar with my seatmates. By the end I think we all just gave up!

(Will try to post actual thoughts on the show when I'm more coherent tomorrow)

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 2:48am

Thanks for the song list! I'm disappointed there aren't more changes, but encouraged by the positive words here. 

@Kitsune, I believe "Welcome to Our World" was in the tryout (although I'm remembering it as "This Is Our World," though I could be wrong), and in the place of "Luckiest Girl in the World" was a song called "Hey, Hey, Look At Me Now," which very closely resembled "If My Friends Could See Me Now"

What was the run time tonight? One of my biggest complaints out of town was that the songs didn't really help move the story forward, so you basically had a full 90-minute screenplay with a full score stuffed inside, making for a long evening.

[CarmenA3]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 3:29am

I was at the first preview as well, and I'm disappointed with the show.  I'm a big fan of the movie and Andy, so I was hoping for a great show.  None of the music was memorable for me, except maybe Samantha's "I Can't Go Back" - but that may be because I had heard it prior to the seeing the show. Poor Andy doesn't get anything to dig into and really shine. I did think Samantha is excellent and Orfeh is her usual kick-butt scene-stealer.

It's "cute" and "lite" and definitely go if you can grab a rush ticket and don't mind a possible partial view. That rush policy must have been published Fri (7/20) b/c I had been looking for any info (including the site) and hadn't found anything.  I'll go back once it opens to see if it has improved.

Who else was waiting to hear Prince during the bathtub scene???

There weren't any songs in the show from the movie.  Does anyone know if that was intentional or did they decide not to/couldn't get the rights?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 5:40am

what sucks for Barks is that will she be remember come the Tony noms next Spring?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:19am

It depends on her competition, but I think she could be remembered. We’ve seen actors be nominated for starring in worse shows, and Pretty Woman is merely mediocre. The critics won’t be kind, but I think it will have decent word of mouth. It’s safe and inoffensive enough. 

I actually applaud the creative team for not including the songs from the movie in the stage show. Those songs would only steal focus from the original score and make it seem even blander than it already is in comparison. Rocky used Eye of the Tiger and the Rocky theme and both completely overwhelmed the A&F score. The only thing you could hum while walking out of the theater was Eye of the Tiger. Had they included Pretty Woman (and I assume again at the curtain call), then that’s all you would be able to remember for the evening. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 6:55am

I think that’s just silly to say that because you’d remember the song, they shouldn’t include it. The name of the show is PRETTY WOMAN. Is it better to walk out of the theater humming that song because you heard it or humming that song because it’s such an obvious omission that it’s in your head, anyways? And for a show like this that has such an unmemorable score to begin with, at least you’d walk out with SOMETHING to keep the show in your mind.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 9:25am

I don’t mean that I think they should exclude just because you’ll remember it, but that it will completely and totally overwhelm the rest of the score, even if it were first rate. Our minds are just naturally drawn to the familiar and the rest of the score would never be able to live up to it.

Did you not think Rocky’s score was overwhelmed by Eye of the Tiger or Ghost’s score was overwhelmed by Unchained Melody?

Even with the best score, if you swapped out Losing My Mind for I Will Always Love You, a person walking out of Follies would have an uphill battle retaining anything other than the pop hit.

Maybe I’m in the minority about not wanting this hits in otherwise original scores, but I think it creates a standard that the new composers can’t live up to and basically says to them, why not just create a jukebox score for this show instead?

[BJR]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 9:56am

I agree. I recall it being a lose-lose for ROCKY. Had they not included it, folks would've been mad; but once they did, they guaranteed no one would remember the F&A score.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 10:14am

Actually, the song I couldn’t get out of my head when I walked out of ROCKY was “Raining”, but it’s understand that I’m in the minority in that one. But how is that a bad thing if people remembered “Eye of the Tiger” or even “Pretty Woman”? It comes with the territory. If you choose to adapt a well known property with an even more popular song, then it’s on you to write a score to match it or live with peoples disappointment.

 

I see it as absolutely no different from having a Celine Dion jukebox musical and not including “My Heart Will Go On”. It’s what people go in expecting to hear so just give it to them or change the script and “base” a new musical on PRETTY WOMAN. 

Updated On: 7/21/18 at 10:14 AM

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 10:45am

Sounds like the same crime that was commited with "The First Wives Club".  "You Don't Own Me" is sooo associated with that film.  To completely disregard that song and choose to close the show with a Vegas Motown was a crime against musical theatre!

[stephimarie]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 11:41am

if anyone is curious, front row tickets are still being sold at rush (I know someone said that it was apparently a mistake yesterday but they're still doing it) they're stamped as partial view even in the center section, because the stage is so high up.

[SJAfan]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:22pm

How early did you get in line? Thinking about going on Tuesday...

[robskynyc]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:30pm

stephimarie said: "if anyone is curious, front row tickets are still being sold at rush (I know someone said that it was apparently a mistake yesterday but they're still doing it) they're stamped as partial view even in the center section, because the stage is so high up."

thanks for the heads up :)

what time did you get there/how many ppl in line?

thanks in advance!

[stephimarie]

Posted: 7/21/18 at 4:58pm

My girlfriend got there at 5am (super extra but she wanted to be first). The next person showed up at 6. By 7 there were 4 people total. By 9, 10 people total. By the time the box office opened, there were about 20 people. No idea how many tickets they had, she left after she got ours.

[crazy_for_broadway]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 10:00am

Anymore reports from the show?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 10:05am

If here were, I bet they’d have shown up right above your post.

[Sauja]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 10:22am

I have to confess to being less positive on this show than Whizzer (whose thoughtful reviews I always appreciate). I agree that Barks has charm and a great big voice, but I didn’t believe she (or any of the rest of the hugely talented, blameless cast) was used to the Herculean challenge of elevating this material.

The score is deadly—these songs are neither appealing nor productive. They each stop the show dead in its place because none of them move the action forward. They either re-establish place (“Welcome to Hollywood”) or grind on nailing a single internal thought repetitively (“I Can’t Go Back”). The book isn’t much help either, serving essentially as a Cliff’s Notes version of the movie.

Orfeh and Eric Anderson are saddled with the worst material. Again, not their fault. But whether Orfeh was belting about Rodeo Drive while tremendously unfashionable (even in the 90s) women danced behind her or Anderson was trying to sell a few bars of a rap written by Bryan Adams in “Never Give Up on a Dream,” they were fully committed but the songs were wince-inducing.

Allison Blackwell makes out best with ththe chance to sing a bit of La Traviata which she does with astonishing beauty. Of course, it helps that it’s a break from the generic pop we’ve been suffering through for two hours by that point.

I found the sets flat and unattractive, the costumes either a carbon copy of the movie (for Barks) or garish, the direction and choreography self-consciously busy, and the main relationship utterly lacking chemistry.

Again, there are enormously talented performers on that stage, but I felt they were utterly failed by the creative team top to bottom.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 10:25am

Yeah, I found the sets to be very lacking, as well. Add that to the costumes being a copy of the film, the book just being the film script and the lazy score and what you have is just a...lazy musical.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 11:15am

Well, the book being the movie script isn't really their fault. Gary Marshall has sadly passed on, so he can't update his story.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 11:21am

That’s not really a valid argument. If they wanted a new book, they could have hired someone else to adapt it.

[Sauja]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 11:32am

There also is another writer credited on both the screenplay and the musical. So someone is on hand who could work on it. And I agree—if they wanted to do a stronger adaptation, they’d have brought in someone with theater experience, particularly since Marshall passed away before the first production.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/22/18 at 11:33am

Yeah, just because a musical is based on a movie doesn’t mean the book has to be transcribed word for word from the screenplay. This barely can be counted as an adaptation when so much is directly lifted from the film.

Nine stays completely true to the tone and themes of 8 1/2 without being a carbon copy of the script at all.

They were too afraid of cutting a single line or imagine from the movie and had no inspiration to replace these things with something different/better.