Review: PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 3rd June 2026.

Pretty Woman: the Musical, based on the 1990 film, is now running in Adelaide. It has direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, music by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, and a book by the film’s director, Garry Marshall, and screenwriter, J.F. Lawton. If you are a fan of Bryan Adams, then you’ll want to see this production just to hear the music, but you are unlikely to walk out whistling the instantly forgettable songs. The musical mostly follows the film, with some minor changes and a great deal edited out to make room for songs and production numbers, and is a little lighter than the original.

New Yorker, Edward Lewis, borrows his lawyer Phillip Stuckey’s sports car, a Lotus Esprit, but has difficulty with the manual gearbox. He finds himself lost in the red light district on Hollywood Boulevard and accepts the offer from a prostitute, Vivian Ward, to drive him to his hotel. He then hires her for the night, later extending it to living with him for the next six days while he is in town, as he needs a companion to attend functions with him. He gives her money to buy a new wardrobe, suitable for those events, but she is thrown out of the exclusive boutique on Rodeo Drive as they deem her to be not their sort of customer.

He is in Hollywood to buy Morse Industries, the failing shipbuilding company owned by David Morse. He intends to strip it of its assets. David’s father, Jim Morse, is not in the musical version.

The kindly manager of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Barnard "Barney" Thompson, calls a friend, Bridget, to find her a cocktail dress for that evening. When Edward sees her in the new dress, with her hair styled, he is taken aback by the change, hardly recognising her. He later takes her shopping for a compete wardrobe, and she returns to the store at which she was insulted, and points out how much money they had lost.

Edward takes Vivian to the opera and I really enjoyed the snippets from Verdi’s La Traviata, the Act 1 duet, Libiamo ne' lieti calici , often known simply as Brindisi (the drinking song), and the desperately pleading aria from Act 2, Amami, Alfredo (Love me, Alfredo), sung superbly by Rebecca Gulinello as the tragic Violetta, with Callum Warrender wonderful as Alfredo. I have been reviewing operas since 1994, when I reviewed Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen, having just studied the complete works of Wagner at university, so that inclusion was an added bonus for me.

Edward is influenced by Vivian and decides to help them save the Morse business, much to the anger of his lawyer, who accuses her of being an industrial spy. Edward, foolishly, tells him who she really is. Later, Stuckey goes to meet Edward and finds Vivian alone in the hotel room where he propositions her, then tries to force himself on her, only to be interrupted and sacked by Edward.

At the end of the week, Vivian goes back to her shared flat and announces she is no longer going to be a prostitute, and her flatmate, Kit De Luca, also decides quit, and enrol to become a police officer. All ends well, as the transformed Vivian finds her knight in shining armour on a white steed, in what is essentially a romcom update on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Vivian has a lot of one-liners that generate plenty laughter. There’s even a reference to a quote borrowed from Groucho Marx’s autobiography, Groucho and Me, where he wrote, “I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members."

Oddly, though, I got the impression that it seems to be very much a vehicle for two other members of the cast: Tim Omaji (Timomatic), as Mr. Thompson, and several other characters, who leads most of the production numbers and some ballroom dancing sequences, and Jordan Tomljenovic, as Giulio, a comical bellhop who seems to be in almost every scene, stealing most of them. These two seem to have more stage time than the two principals, short segments of the original story acting as links between the big numbers and dance routines. They even get to waltz together. The audience clearly loved them both.

Ben Hall, as Edward, the cold, money-focussed corporate raider, and Samantha Jade, as Vivian, the free-wheeling, vivacious hooker, establish a good rapport as the central characters as each exerts an influence on the other until, as we recall from Wicked, they are both changed ‘For Good’, in both meanings of the term.

Jade came across well as the young woman who has shielded herself with a layer of brashness, keeping any real feelings deeply hidden, and denying that she has dreams of a better life. She sings beautifully, with a hint of her character’s carefully hidden vulnerability in her voice, a vulnerability that gradually diminishes as her self-confidence grows and she sees the possibility of a better future.

Hall convincingly plays a man who has never had a real connection to any of the women in his past nor, in fact, to anybody at all, even his own deceased father. He is challenged by Vivian and appears confused by his own emerging feelings for her. Hall’s voice has a romantic depth to it that carries his performance.

Together, Jade and Hall are a fine pairing, their voices blending well in their romantic duets, and a tentative, reserved first encounter between their characters gradually blossoming as they influence each other.

Michelle Brasier, as Kit, has a strong presence, adds many comic moments, and can really belt out a powerhouse number, her voice carrying over the band and the entire chorus. The ensemble not only offered terrific vocals, but gave some of the sharpest dance numbers you could wish for.

There are hints of the iconic Roy Orbison song here and there, of course, and it finally gets a full outing after the storyline has concluded, with another production number encore to close the performance. As expected, the audience gave a standing ovation.

David Rockwell’s minimalist scene changes were slick, and the colourful costumes, by Tom Rogers, were based on those from the film, with only minor variations, while Josh Marquette ensured that the ladies plenty of big hair styles, appropriate to the era.

This is a light-weight but entertaining night out. It runs until 5th July so you have ample time to catch this production.

Photography, Daniel Boud.

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