{"id":72017,"date":"2018-08-16T22:25:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T02:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/dangerous-nostalgia-gets-a-glow-up-in-pretty-woman-the-musical-on-broadway-review\/"},"modified":"2018-08-16T22:25:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T02:25:29","slug":"dangerous-nostalgia-gets-a-glow-up-in-pretty-woman-the-musical-on-broadway-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/dangerous-nostalgia-gets-a-glow-up-in-pretty-woman-the-musical-on-broadway-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous Nostalgia Gets a Glow Up in \u2018Pretty Woman: The Musical\u2019 on Broadway: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dangerous Nostalgia Gets a Glow Up in \u2018Pretty Woman: The Musical\u2019 on Broadway: REVIEW<\/b>
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\"pretty<\/p>\n

\u2018Pretty\u2019 isn\u2019t always a compliment. It can also be code for what a woman<\/a> is not \u2014 sharp, ambitious, or (heaven forbid!) \u2018difficult.\u2019 In the case of Vivian Ward, who has a hit movie and a new musical named in her honor, it also means she\u2019s readily available for sex<\/a>, at a price. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, <\/span>Pretty Woman: The Musical <\/span><\/i>opened on Broadway tonight, just in time to provide a wistful distraction from our ugly gender wars. Remember 1990, when women<\/a> knew their place and not-so-secretly wanted men<\/a> to rescue them, preferably on an actual white horse? Ugh, #metoo. How simple life was then! All is as it once was inside the Nederlander Theatre, where director Jerry Mitchell\u2019s characteristically slick production is vibrant, polished, and yes\u2026 very pretty. <\/span><\/p>\n

But what are we doing here? <\/span><\/p>\n

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Everyone knows how the story goes; producers are counting on it. Another version is parked up the street at <\/span>My Fair Lady<\/span><\/i>, a problematic fave that fans and critics alike bent over backward to accommodate this spring. Old pleasures die hard. It was a different time! George Bernard Shaw was kind of a feminist, if you think about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most dangerous thing about <\/span>Pretty Woman<\/span><\/i>: <\/span>The Musical<\/span><\/i> is that it presents itself like the heroine it idolizes \u2014 benignly appealing without asking anyone to think too hard. Nineties nostalgia is all the rage, after all. Who doesn\u2019t fondly remember Julia Roberts in those iconic costumes, beautifully reimagined here by Gregg Barnes? Or the erotic thrill of a rom-com that casts sex<\/a> as a commodity? <\/span><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s even a soft-rock score by \u201890s emo prince Bryan Adams and frequent collaborator Jim Vallance that tugs gently at heartstrings with on-the-nose pop refrains. (Vivian longs to be \u201canywhere but here\u201d; \u201cthere\u2019s something about her,\u201d Edward muses.) Original screenwriter J.F. Lawton and late director Garry Marshall collaborated on a script that\u2019s dutifully faithful to the film, with a few,\u00a0<\/span>very<\/span><\/i> minor nods to the modern notion that maybe women<\/a> have more to contribute to society than their bodies. (Vivian\u2019s pal Kit wants to be a cop; Vivian briefly entertains finishing school or getting a job before Edward rescues her off that fire escape and she no longer need bother.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hats off to Samantha Barks (who broke out as \u00c9ponine in the <\/span>Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/span><\/i> film) for reinventing a wildly beloved character and making it utterly her own. Vivian is not an easy sell in 2018, but the fact that Barks succeeds so convincingly is a double-edged sword: On the one hand, she\u2019s delivering a breakthrough stage performance; on the other, that only makes the story\u2019s painfully retrograde gender politics deceptively more palatable. The reason Edward, and the audience, are meant to like Vivian is the supposed novelty of her being a sex<\/a> worker who also happens to have wit and personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andy Karl, making a career of playing \u201890s leading men<\/a> on stage, is aptly squinty and low-key charming in the Richard Gere role of Edward, a welcome departure from the soulless womanizer he played in last year\u2019s <\/span>Groundhog Day<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Orfeh, Karl\u2019s wife in real life, is a swaggering vocal powerhouse as Kit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mitchell\u2019s production proceeds at a decent clip, one too many songs about pursuing vague dreams notwithstanding. David Rockwell\u2019s artful set draws sharp distinctions between the grit of Hollywood Boulevard and the luxury of penthouse suites and afternoons on the polo field. Nearly every scene fans of the movie will expect remains in tact here. There Vivian is rocking out in the bathtub; now she\u2019s shopping on Rodeo \u2014 and look! \u2014 she and Edward are doing it on the baby grand, then holding hands at the opera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the fairy tale,\u201d Vivian insists. The only tension in\u00a0<\/span>Pretty Woman<\/span><\/i> is whether or not her rags-to-riches windfall is going to last. Of course, we know the answer. Why anyone would be nostalgic for a <\/span>time when women<\/a> might simply be considered \u2018pretty\u2019 and nothing more is the question we ought to be asking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent theatre features\u2026
New Musical \u2018Be More Chill\u2019 Is Like an Incel\u2019s Answer to \u2018Mean Girls\u2019: REVIEW<\/a>
New Go-Go\u2019s Musical \u2018Head Over Heels\u2019 Is a Goddamn Queer Delight: REVIEW<\/a>
New Rock Opera from \u2018Hedwig\u2019 Creator, \u2018This Ain\u2019t No Disco\u2019 Is Right About That: REVIEW<\/a>
Boys Will Be Boys in \u2018Straight White Men\u2019 Starring Armie Hammer and Josh Charles: REVIEW<\/a>
Idina Menzel Opens In Off-Broadway\u2019s \u2018Skintight,\u2019 a Daddy-Twink Romance Where \u2018Hot Is Everything\u2019: REVIEW<\/a>
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Get in, Losers: The \u2018Mean Girls\u2019 Musical Is Fun as Hell: REVIEW<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
<\/a><\/em>(photos: matthew murphy)<\/p>\n

The post Dangerous Nostalgia Gets a Glow Up in \u2018Pretty Woman: The Musical\u2019 on Broadway: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Dangerous Nostalgia Gets a Glow Up in ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ on Broadway: REVIEW<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n