'Pretty Woman: The Musical' will kick off the new Broadway season at the Fox Cities PAC
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APPLETON – A musical retelling of the classic '90s movie "Pretty Woman" is making its way to Appleton Tuesday through Sunday to kick off the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center's 2023-24 Broadway season.
Based on the 1990 romantic comedy staring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, "Pretty Woman: The Musical" is about a love story between a Hollywood sex worker named Vivian Ward and a wealthy businessman named Edward Lewis. After Edward meets Vivian while taking a wrong turn through the city, he hires her to pose as his girlfriend for a week. As Vivian attends business events with Edward and the two get to know each other during the week, feelings deepen between the unlikely pair.
"Pretty Woman: The Musical" premiered on Broadway in 2018, before closing a year later. Its first national tour kicked off in 2021, and the current cast, the second national tour, started performances earlier this month.
Chase Wolfe, who plays Edward Lewis, said the first couple weeks of performances have been very well-received.
"So far, the audiences have been really, really good," Wolfe said. "It's a show where, I think us especially on stage, we like when people are vocal. It's not a show where we kind of want people to sit back and just watch, because the music lends itself to feel like a rock concert."
The show features music from Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, the Canadian songwriting duo behind songs like "What About Love" and "Summer of '69." The pair has written music for music icons including KISS, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and more. Those rock influences are evident in the musical's score.
A lot of the appeal of the musical, Wolfe said, is that audience members can come to the theater expecting many of their favorite moments from the film.
"The show's script is like, pretty much the movie. There's some adjustments here and there, but as much of it is verbatim from the movie as possible," he said. "So there's a lot of laughing or chuckles in between lines, and they're quoting it with you. ... It's a lot of fun to be able to take on a role that someone did iconically and adjust that a little, but still let someone feel the same joy."
Beyond catchy music and iconic movie moments, "Pretty Woman: The Musical" also delivers an important message about embracing who you are, Wolfe said.
"What I love about it is just like, truly how strong and independent Vivian is and proves herself to be," Wolfe said. "She's kind of struggling, which is why she takes the career path she takes. And then she meets this guy, and they just kind of fall in love in a really cute way. She's so blatantly who she is, and unashamedly who she is, that he can't help but also be a version of himself that he loves around her."
Wolfe said it's the first national tour he and many members of the cast — including his co-star, Ellie Baker — have been a part of. He said he's looking forward to arriving in Appleton, as well as getting to explore cities all over the United States.
"I worked on cruise ships for five years, I've seen a lot of the world and I have seen so much less of my own country," Wolfe said. "I'm just excited to see what the U.S. has — those small little hole-in-the-wall food places, I'm a coffee shop fanatic, I'm going to taste coffee all over the U.S."
Tickets for "Pretty Woman: The Musical" can be purchased online through Ticketmaster, or by phone at 800-982-2787, or through the Fox Cities PAC ticket office in-person or by phone at 920-730-3760. The PAC ticket office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: 'Pretty Woman: The Musical' will kick off the new Broadway season at the Fox Cities PAC
