Review: ‘Pretty Woman’ musical is back in Chicago, a crowd-pleasing night out starring Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal, who played Roger in the original cast of “Rent,” has one of the great Broadway rock voices. His voice evokes the 1990s transition of the American musical to a fresher, harder edged sound while still retaining all the emotional wetness of Jonathan Larson’s generous music, as beautifully explicated in the new movie “Tick, Tick ... Boom.”
So it’s plenty weird to see Pascal in a three-piece suit with a short haircut, playing the role of uptight businessman Edward Lewis in the first national touring production of “Pretty Woman,” the Broadway musical that had its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago in 2018, which now feels like a bygone age. Is that really Adam Pascal, you wonder to yourself? Until he opens his mouth. Then you are reminded.
“Pretty Woman,” certainly, is no “Rent,” but the score by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance is a lot of nostalgic fun for Pascal to sing, and his presence here will surely appeal to former “Rent”-heads who once rocked out to Roger and are happy to slide back into the lite rock sounds of the 1990s, if only as an escape from all our current problems.
This musical, directed and choreographed by the inimitable Jerry Mitchell, is of course, out of step with the moment. But the title and its plot are familiar enough that if you don’t want to watch a melodrama about a closed-off capitalist who picks up a lovable sex worker on Hollywood Boulevard and promptly falls in love with her naive charm and reorders his entire life, then no one is going to drag you to the theater. You can stay home and write on Facebook instead.
“Pretty Woman,” which stars Olivia Valli in the role made famous on screen by Julia Roberts, is a guilty pleasure show, a sexy nostalgia trip that goes down easy and would easily accommodate those who might previously have imbibed and chilled at a festive office gathering (safely, one hopes). On Tuesday, groups of women dominated the audience, with a good sprinkling of people dressed glamorously for a date night on the town. Everyone seemed to leave well pleased with what they had seen and heard.
Pascal, actually, brings a lightness of touch that evaded Steve Kazee, who wrestled with this role originally and struggled to make it work for him. Neither Pascal nor Valli, who is youthful charmer with a fine pop voice, take anything too seriously and their mutual, gently ironic, comedic attitude well serves what everyone has come to experience.
Mitchell’s choreography and staging is clever, zesty and always thoroughly alive. He adds more well-executed dance into “Pretty Woman” than you’d have any right to expect and the tour also has another laudably relaxed and warmhearted performance from Kyle Taylor Parker, who plays the storyteller and facilitator of all the romantic shenanigans here. All in all, the touring (union) cast has found a better emotional key and chilled-out vibe than the original crew, who had more pressure on their back.
If you saw the show the first time around, you’ll note the reductions in the size of the set by David Rockwell, which invariably happens on tours. But it’s still a glam night out with a talented cast of professionals, easy on the ear and the brain, sexy but not tasteless, and most certainly a lot more fun than sitting at home.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “Pretty Woman”
When: Through Dec. 19
Where: CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Tickets: $33-$102.50 at 800-775-2000 and www.broadwayinchicago.com
COVID protocol: Audience members must provide proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 PCR test from the last 72 hours, or a negative antigen test from the last 6 hours. Masks are required in the theater.