Pretty Woman: The Musical (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (813)
See it if You are a fan of the movie. The performances are excellent (esp Barks, Karl & Orfeh). Music is pleasing & the story is a classic. Very fun
Don't see it if You don't like the movie or are looking for a highfalutin show. They could have spent more money on the sets which were not great.
See it if You liked the movie. This is a nice recreation with great singing and acting, a few special moments though no songs rise to stay in memory.
Don't see it if You expect any sort of originality or interesting interpretation at all. This is strictly film to stage, almost scene for scene. Read more
See it if you're a fan of the film or the stars, curious about Brian Adams as composer, like fluffy rom-coms, fine singing, modern fairy tales
Don't see it if don't like too much cuteness, rom-coms, predictable plot, low stakes, glorying of prostitution, forgettable music, or the film Read more
See it if you enjoyed they movie. There are some changes for the better. Wonderful singing and staging.
Don't see it if you did not like the movie. Read more
See it if you want a good facsimile of the movie including replicating most scenes & using dialog directly from the movie; strong singing by leads
Don't see it if dull; w/o memorable music or lyrics and w/ good but not incandescent performances, this musical rarely has the magic of the fairy-tale movie
See it if you want to see a faithful (in story) musical adaptation of the 1990 film, and you really enjoy the cheesy AC music of Bryan Adams.
Don't see it if you wish to avoid a charmless Vivian, chemistry-free leads, out-of-touch book, vapid, generic score, cheap-looking sets & lazy choreography. Read more
See it if You love the movie and/or Bryan Adams music and are in the mood for a light, semi-mindless, entertaining show.
Don't see it if You’re sick of middle-of-the-road movie-to-stage adaptations that don’t improve on their source material.
See it if If Cinderella were real and a tart this is exactly the kind of musical she would pay to see. Andy Karl's charisma is welcome on any stage.
Don't see it if The timing couldn't be worse for this unnecessary tuneless tripe. The world has shifted! C'mon.
Critic Reviews (51)
"Ms. Barks is clearly a talented singer and actress...she has been given no chance to banish stardust memories of the woman who created her part. Directed and choreographed as if on automatic pilot by Jerry Mitchell. Its creators have hewed suffocatingly close to the film’s story, gags, and dialogue...Mostly, Ms. Barks conducts herself like a peppy, tomboyish cutup from a sitcom. She often doesn’t seem entirely at ease, but her discomfort is nothing compared to Mr. Karl’s."
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"Mostly just a dutiful replica of the movie...Not only does this approach miss an opportunity to rethink the story’s sugar-daddy fantasy in a deeper way, it also gets stale fast; this ain’t our first time on Rodeo Drive...Adams and Vallance’s music does its job, but has a Broadway show ever had lyrics so utterly, almost senselessly generic?...The cast makes the most of what 'Pretty Woman' allows them."
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"'Pretty Woman: The Musical' has plenty of problems outside of its politics...It’s the kind of lifeless clunker that makes your heart go out to its actors...It’s more concerned with checking the boxes of all the movie’s most famous moments than it is with telling us anything new about these characters or creating any sense of surprise...The musical has added only 30 minutes to the length of the movie, and it still manages to feel draggy and overpadded."
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"Reports that the creators...were 'reshaping' the story for the #MeToo era have been greatly exaggerated...But Lawton and the film’s director, the late Garry Marshall, who co-wrote the book, have clearly taken a 'don’t mess with success' approach...Samantha Barks is agreeable as Vivian, and Andy Karl is an appealingly handsome Edward. The bright spots, though, come from the supporting cast...But it’s clear that the all-male creative team hasn’t interrogated the story."
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"While the creative team strains a tad too diligently to give the female lead agency and sidestep the Cinderella story's awkward sexual politics, the show is best appreciated as a retro pleasure, guilty or not...Its chief reason to exist is as a nostalgia exercise, not a fresh entertainment in its own right. The songs are almost superfluous...Barks makes a sensational Broadway debut...Vivian probably could have done without the blunt literalness of lyrics by Adams and Vallance."
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"If you absolutely adore the film, director Jerry Mitchell has put together a show that will feel instantly familiar...No Broadway show has ever gone wrong by casting Andy Karl...But the best news of all is just how perfectly (and seamlessly) Samantha Barks steps into Roberts’ shoes...And yet, 'Pretty Woman' doesn’t quite work as a musical...Overall, the songs by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance feel uninspired, a little cheesy, and lifeless."
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"Stubbornly inconsequential, it’s a morally uplifting fairy tale of which everyone, young and old alike, can be skeptical...Director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell and team toss a decided gloss over this G-rated version of Hollywood nights, with production numbers and ensemble acting executed with exaggerated musical-comedy snap...Though the lyrics teem with cliche, the cast gives its all to sell them."
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"Not that 'Pretty Woman' is terrible—it’s just mediocre, albeit to a mind-boggling degree...Not only are the 16 songs banal, but they’re untheatrical: Virtually all of them are here’s-how-I’m-feeling-right-this-second power ballads that stop the action of the show dead instead of pushing it forward to the final curtain...Rarely in the history of Broadway has a bigger, staler nothingburger been served up than 'Pretty Woman.'"
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