Pretty Woman producers announce UK and Ireland tour

Picture: Marc Brenner

Hit show Pretty Woman The Musical will be stepping out on a UK and Ireland tour later this year and into 2024 with performances beginning at the Birmingham Alexandra Theatre on 17 October 2023.

With full casting and further venues to be announced at a later date, the tour will visit Bristol, Glasgow, Woking, Oxford, Stockton, Liverpool, Hull, Wimbledon, York, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Cardiff, Bromley, Leeds, Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Stoke, Southampton, Southend, Dartford, Nottingham, Northampton and Sheffield.

The West End production continues to play the Savoy Theatre with booking currently open for performances up to June.

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 2021, taking up residence in its new home, the Savoy Theatre.

Featuring music by multi-award-winning rock star Bryan Adams and his songwriting 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, Frozen) made her Broadway debut in the coveted title role alongside US TV star Steve Kazee (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