New cast members join Pretty Woman at the Savoy

Pretty Woman: The Musical will welcome five new cast members to the production at the Savoy Theatre which is currently booking up to June.

Patrick Barrett, Elly Jay, Annabelle Laing, Will Luckett and Cilla Silver will join the cast which is headed by SIX’s Aimie Atkinson (In the Heights, King’s Cross Theatre) and Danny Mac (Sunset Boulevard UK tour, White Christmas, Dominion Theatre) in the central roles of Vivian Ward and Edward Lewis, with Rachael Wooding (We Will Rock You, Dominion Theatre, Hairspray, Shaftesbury Avenue) as Kit De Luca; Bob Harms (Come From Away, Phoenix Theatre, Footloose, Novello Theatre) as Happy Man/Mr Thompson; Neil McDermott (Shrek The Musical, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Follies, London Palladium) as Philip Stuckey; and Mark Holden (The Bodyguard, Dominion Theatre and UK tour, Fame UK tour) as James Morse.

The cast is completed by John Addison, Jemma Alexander, Andy Barke, Katie Bradley, Oliver Brenin, Olivia Brookes, Erin Caldwell, Alex Charles, Olly Christopher, Ben Darcy, Hannah Ducharme, Nicholas Duncan, Tom Andrew Hargreaves, Antony Hewitt, Matt Jones, Serina Mathew, Charlotte Elisabeth Yorke and Tara Young. Casting for June onwards will be announced at a later date.

Following a Broadway run that ended in August 2019, the musical based on the much-loved 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman was originally due to play a limited 46-week run at the Piccadilly Theatre from 13 February 2020. The hit show returned in its new home, the Savoy Theatre last summer.

Featuring music by multi-award-winning rock star Bryan Adams and his song writing partner Jim Vallance, the stage musical version of the modern Cinderella story boasts a book co-written by the original film’s director, the late Garry Marshall and screenwriter J.F. Lawton.

Directed and choreographed by double Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, Pretty Woman The Musical features scenic design by David Rockwell, and costumes by Tom Rogers from the original Broadway designs by Gregg Barnes with lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Philip S. Rosenberg, sound design by John Shivers, hair design by Josh Marquette, and music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Will Van Dyke.

Pretty Woman: The Musical received its world premiere in Chicago in March 2018 ahead of its Broadway debut in August 2018. Samantha Barks (Les Misérables) made her Broadway debut in the coveted title role alongside US TV star Steve Kazee (Shameless, Nashville) whose last appearance on Broadway in Once had earned him a Tony Award.

The original movie version of the unlikely love story of the vibrant street-walker and the bored businessman who hires her as an escort and falls in love featured a career-launching performance from Julia Roberts. A relative unknown when she won the role, Roberts had co-starred in the low budget cult favourite Mystic Pizza and completed a supporting role in the, at the time, unreleased Steel Magnolias. She was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance in the film. As well as turning Roberts into Hollywood’s newest leading lady the film helped revitalise Richard Gere’s career which had stalled somewhat following the critical and audience success of American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman.

Angela Thomas