Last night I was in the audience at The Providence Performing Arts Center for the first time since February of 2020, and it felt great to be back! Broadway shows have returned to PPAC and the first one of the season is Pretty Woman! The popular movie is now a fun musical with an amazingly talented cast.
Adam Pascal stars as Edward Lewis, and Olivia Valli takes on the Julia Robert's role of Vivian Ward. Vivian's best friend Kit De Luca is played by Jessica Crouch, and she has such a powerful voice! I love that they've given Kit more of her on special storyline in this stage version. But the performer who I feel stole the show is Kyle Taylor Parker who did double duty as "Happy Man" and Mr. Thompson the hotel manager. I'm sure you remember the "Happy Man" character at the beginning and the end of the movie "Pretty Woman" walking the streets welcoming people to Hollywood and asking them "What's your dream?" That character's role has been expanded in the stage show with several musical numbers throughout the show. And Mr. Thompson has some of the best dance numbers of the night!
Bryan Adams wrote most of the music for the show, so it's full of catchy tunes, and of course the song "Pretty Woman" is included, although they do make you wait for it until the very end.
Pretty Woman: The Musical is at PPAC now through this Saturday, with a final performance Saturday afternoon at 2. Tickets are still available, buy them online HERE or call the PPAC box office at 401-421-ARTS.
Photo Credit: PPAC
Photo: PPAC