Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman tells a timeless story that has been repeated time and time again. Taking ample inspiration from Cinderella, as well as a dash of Pygmalion, it's a story whose DNA has become ingrained in our collective pop culture vocabulary, and it's now about to come back in a major way. However, it turns out that Pretty Woman won't return as a sequel, reboot or remake. Instead, the classic My Fair Lady reimagining will be adapted as a Broadway musical.
According to a new report from The New York Times, Pretty Woman is about to get the Broadway treatment, with Les Miserables star Samantha Barks portraying the role of Vivian (the role made famous by Julia Roberts), and Tony-winning performer Steve Kazee stepping into the role of Edward (portrayed by Richard Gere in the film). The upcoming musical will feature songs co-written by Bryan Adams and a script that Garry Marshall (the director of the original Pretty Woman film) worked on before his death last summer.
As far as performers go, this is quite the jump for Samantha Barks to step into the role of Vivian. Though she is an experienced stage actress, Pretty Woman will mark her first foray into the world of Broadway, and arguably her most well-known role to date since her turn as Eponine in 2012's Les Miserables.
Of course, if any romantic comedy deserves to receive a stage adaptation, there's a strong case to be made that Pretty Woman is that property. As one of the highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time (raking in $463 million in total worldwide), the 1990 classic earned Julia Roberts a Golden Globe win and an Academy Award nomination (her first of either in a leading role), and the film has since gone on to become widely regarded as one of the best entries in the genre to date.
For those of you who have never seen Pretty Woman, the film centers on a businessman named Edward who hires a prostitute named Vivian to stay with him for the weekend. As they spend time together, they begin to develop a bond, and Edward soon finds himself falling in love with her. Eventually, hilarity AND drama ensue as they find themselves forced to reconcile their decidedly different worlds in their quest to stay together.
The stage production of Pretty Woman will start in Chicago next March and then move to Broadway in the autumn of 2018. However, shifting from the stage to the silver screen, make sure to take a look at CinemaBlend's 2017 movie premiere guide and 2018 movie premiere guide to see what else Hollywood has in store for the next year!
