Samantha Barks... oh, man. What a ray of LIGHT! How did it take this long to get her to Broadway? Her Vivian is pitch-perfect. A beautiful homage to Julia Roberts' performance while putting her own spin on it. Incredible presence, stunningly gorgeous vocals, and dimples you can't take your eyes off of. She is a true knockout!
The rest of the show... oh, man. No bueno. The two words to describe it all: cheap and generic. Why were Edward's penthouse and Rodeo Drive—two places which could've been opulent and gorgeous—so cheap-looking? (Edward's penthouse is literally just a piano, a couch, and a screen panel with a little ledge for the balcony.)
This is as identical of a screenplay-to-book adaptation as you get. They hardly changed anything beyond adding Kit to a couple more scenes (which I was a fan of, since Orfeh is a gem). It's all the lines you know already ("big mistake, big, huge" is basically the Act I finale). Really, the only major "change" I noticed is that Vivian fights off Stuckey herself and doesn't wind up with a black eye. But it's not exactly a revelatory moment or anything, since we already know full well how strong and autonomous she is.
The score was really not fun to sit through. Nothing sounds bad or discordant or anything, but it's all just soooooo generic. When any lyric starts, you immediately know how it will conclude. I couldn't repeat a single tune for you.
Poor Andy Karl's talents are sadly being wasted in a role that gets no elevation from the film whatsoever. It's rare to see an Andy Karl show where he isn't the standout male performance of the night—here, that goes to Eric Anderson, who hams it up in a number of roles.
The opera scene was the best part of the production.
Aside from the radiant Barks, it all just felt very middling and lazy. Lacking in Broadway magic. Like some producers came across a decent-sized pot of gold somewhere and said, "Eh... might as well do a Pretty Woman musical, I guess?"