Sacramento native Jessica Crouch co-stars in touring version of the production, based on the 1990 Julia Roberts film. She recalls attending Broadway Sacramento shows with her parents while growing up.
Broadway Sacramento is ending their 2022-2023 season with…a bang.
Pretty Woman: The Musical debuted last night at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center and runs through Sunday, May 7. The show, quite perplexingly, is worth it.
To my mind, the 1990 film that inspired the play is a head-scratcher, too. If you’ve not seen the star-making vehicle for Julia Roberts, she plays a prostitute in a Cinderella-esque story that wasn’t your typical Disney fodder, which led the studio to release the feature under their Touchstone Pictures banner.
I’m not a huge Roberts fan, but when I like her, I love her. Audience all over the world did, too. Against all odds, she shines in the film against Richard Gere’s wealthy suitor.
But to take that premise and set it to music just doesn’t make sense on paper. Whores and music: it sounds like a run-of-the-mill Friday night at Badlands in Sacramento, not the stuff of which a great Broadway musical is made.
As confounding as it is, the musical, while not being appropriate for the young ones in your household, works very well. Maybe it’s the engaging score and songs, co-written by Grammy winner Bryan Adams.
Maybe it’s the crack direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Kinky Boots, Legally Blond).
Maybe it’s the leads. Newcomer Jessie Davidson as the lovable hooker, Vivian Ward, who faltered only when being challenged with delivering a handful of lines from the film, and one very important horse laugh, that only Roberts could pull off. But you won’t be able to help falling in love with her, and with a voice like that, she won’t be labeled “newcomer” for long.
Maybe it was her co-star (and Tony Award-nominee) Adam Pascal as Edward Lewis. Like the story itself, Pascal grew on me. His voice, while a bit nasally, got stronger throughout the night. As his and Davidson’s voices swelled and intertwined during “Long Way Home,” I teared up.
Watch out for a few of Davidson’s and Pascal’s supporting cast who almost stole the show. It was a joy to see Sacramento’s own Jessica Crouch as Vivian’s friend Kit De Luca, performing on the same stage on which she debuted, at the age of four, in The Sacramento Ballet’s Nutcracker. As a fully-formed adult, Davidson’s vocal range may be broader than Davidson’s.
Crouch told KRCA that her parents were season subscribers with Broadway Sacramento.
“I would always come and see the tours come in,” Crouch recalls. “That’s where my love of theater grew. It’s a very, very special moment to be standing on that very stage where I learned that I wanted to do this with my life.”
“
Travis Ward-Osborne’s Happy Man helped anchor the story, and his high kicks were Rockettes-worthy. We all would have liked one more dance sequence with Trent Soyster, whose comedic and physical comedy chops were on full display as he brought Giulio to life.
But it wouldn’t be a production about prostitutes if I didn’t objectify someone: Topher J. Babb wears a cowboy hat, and a costume to match, like nobody’s business. If Dolly Parton turns you down, Topher, I’m free for a drink this week. At Badlands, maybe?
Get a sitter for the tykes and make time for Pretty Woman: The Musical if you can score a ticket. Missing it would be big mistake. Big. Huge!
Grab tickets to Pretty Woman: The Musical, which runs through Sunday, May 7 at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center, are available online at BroadwaySacramento.com, by phone at (916) 557-1999, or in person at the Broadway Sacramento Box Office, 1419 H Street in Sacramento.
Connect with freelance writer Michael P Coleman at MichaelPColeman.com, and follow him on IG and Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP
