Pretty Woman will soon be walking down Randolph Street. The Broadway-aimed adaptation Pretty Woman: The Musical will have a five-week tryout run at Broadway in Chicago’s Oriental Theatre this spring, March 13 to April 15.
The new stage musical, based on the 1990 film that made Julia Roberts an instant star, has been in the works for several years; it was first reported in 2014 that the movie’s late director, Garry Marshall, and screenwriter J.F. Lawton were working on a possible adaptation of the Pygmalion-via-prostitution romcom about an escort and a rich cad who fall in love on the job.
Stage director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell told Entertainment Weekly last spring that the musical was aiming to open on Broadway in the 2018–19 season, with an original score by Canadian adult-contemporary rocker Bryan Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance; the book is credited to Marshall and Lawton.
Starring in the Roberts role as Vivian will be West End actor Samantha Barks, best known to U.S. audiences as Éponine in the film version of Les Misérables; in the male lead, Edward, the role created by Richard Gere, will be Steve Kazee, a Tony Award winner for the Broadway adaptation of Once. Additional casting will be announced at a later date. [October 3 update: Tony nominee Orfeh (Legally Blonde: The Musical) will play Kit, the character played by Laura San Giacomo in the movie. October 6 update: Jason Danieley (Sunday in the Park with George at Chicago Shakespeare Theater) will play Philip Stuckey, the Jason Alexander character.] According to producers, Pretty Woman: The Musical will open on Broadway in the fall of 2018 at a Nederlander-owned theater to be named later.
Pretty Woman will be included in Broadway in Chicago’s next subscription season, alongside the touring productions of musicals On Your Feet!, Waitress and The Color Purple; season tickets will go on sale Wednesday, October 18. Individual tickets will go on sale at a date to be announced.