‘Pretty Woman’: From Screen to Stage, How Female Empowerment Was Key to Musical Adaptation
27.06.2022 - 20:23
/ variety.com
Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorGarry Marshall’s romantic comedy “Pretty Woman” starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts continues to wow audiences through both the 1990 film and subsequent musical adaptation. But how does one translate a beloved musical from screen to stage?Marshall had always wanted to create a Broadway musical.
Speaking with Variety, daughter Kathleen Marshall says, “He felt ‘Pretty Woman’ was the one to make. Barbara [Marshall’s widow] would always encourage him to think about it.” It wasn’t until 2013 when Marshall and the film’s screenwriter J.F.
Lawton reconnected to write the musical.Kathleen Marshall says, “They started writing every Wednesday afternoon for several years, and Barbara was thrilled. Garry was happy to be writing the musical with Lawton because they both had spent time with these characters and had a clear vision of how they wanted to write the musical.” Garry Marshall and producer Paula Wagner, who worked on “Mission: Impossible” and “Mission: Impossible 2,” had one concern in bringing the beloved film to stage: How was it going to work?” Wagner says, “It’s about your audience experience, and how through their eyes they experience this.”Wagner and the team had to go back to the ‘90s.
Wagner says, “It’s a great love story because it plays to a fantasy that all of us collectively share, which is we wanted our fantasies to work out. We want an ending where we all go off into the sunset.” She adds the modern-day Cinderella story about a prostitute (Roberts) and a wealthy businessman (Gere) who fall for each other and bridge the gap in their very different worlds is a story about hope, aspiration and redemption.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.