Pretty Women: The Musical (with my own review)

Landmark Theater; Syracuse, NY

March 20, 2024

Cynthia, Nikki and I hit the town for an adventure in theater, we had tickets to see a performance of Pretty Women The Musical. We all met at Nikki's house and headed to the Syracuse down town area where we went to dinner at the popular restaurant Oh, my Darling. We had tried to go to dinner there once before before a theatric performance and it was booked all night. I was excited to see what all the demand was about. 

There were several good choices to decide from, but I decided on the chicken sandwich with the garlic parmesan cheese fries. It was delish!!!! The fries were amazing. Nikki got the mac n cheese while Cynthia got an very yummy looking salad with chicken.

Nikki, Cynthia and I all worked together in the past. Nikki has been the lifeline that has been keeping all of us still getting together throughout the year. She is the one who is always planning these dinner and events that she attempts to gather several of us old co-workers together to hang out. It seems often that it is only the three of us who seem to commit. I enjoy the time to catch up, and even if I wish more of us did things like this, it is wonderful to spend the time with these two lovely ladies. 

Nikki was also meeting with some of her current co-workers for the theater tonight. It appears she will continue this tradition into her new work friends. 

I wasn't sure about this show as I had been given some negative thoughts/reviews from other friends. I had also listened to some of the reviews from online reviewers which had not been very positive. I wasn't going in with any expectations, just ready for a nice night out.

I know that there seems to be several movies now made into musicals, and I think it must be difficult to take a classic movie and make it shine by adding music. I do recall that watching Footloose on a previous cruise was difficult and I think that it was because I had the movie so ingrained in my memory I just couldn't see past a cast without Kevin Bacon and Chris Penn. I loved Mean Girls, loved the songs, loved the characters. I was willing to give Pretty Women the benefit of the doubt.

If you haven't seen it, I don't imagine I will be spoiling anything, the plot of the musical is the same as the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it! It started out with a big song and dance number all about living in Hollywood, we were quickly introduced to Vivian and her roommate Kit as they discuss their choice in profession. Vivian sings a song about not wanting this life and she cons Edward  into paying her for directions. I was not sold on the show at that point and I even began to think no, I'm not going to like this. I was seriously thinking that the play was just inserting musical numbers just to be musical. As the performance continued I was pleasantly surprised. I fell in love with the bellhop with his silly little antics, and the relationship between Vivian and the   "happy man"  was enduring. I loved when they taught Vivian how to dance. I enjoyed how they incorporated the opera scene. 

There were some parts that seemed a stretch, Vivian's bath tub scene in a bathtub would have been nice, the Jockey club scene seemed awkward and she didn't do the woo woo. Her iconic Big Mistake! Big!  Huge! was misplaced between a song and dance and it just didn't flow, and an odd song featuring Kit and "The Happy Man" was also not my favorite.  (Although I thought Kits voice was amazing and I loved The Happy Man the most of this performance) However, I loved the whole despite those parts, if that makes any sense. What I mean is that the musical really helped to define the progression of Vivian, I understand why Vivian sang about wanting a different life in the beginning, and I was able to watch as she transformed her self worth between the clothing, the opera, her confidence growing and she sings about her growth. The movie did not give me that. The movie to me was always a love story, the musical reflected self love.  Was it the best musical I have ever seen? Not even close, but I did enjoy it. I would have to say I really liked Pretty Women The musical, but I will always Love Pretty Women the movie. TTFN