Staging Hollywood's ultimate rom-com

According to his wife Barbara and daughter Kathleen, the director of the film and co-writer of the musical Garry Marshall would have been thrilled to learn of its ongoing success. He passed away in 2016, after working on the production with the movie’s writer J. F. Lawton for many years and dreaming that it might open in New York someday.

“Had someone told him it would be such a hit around the world he wouldn’t have believed it,” Barbara smiles proudly. “Not only did it make it to Broadway, it’s bringing joy to so many people in so many other places.”

Bronx-born Marshall was a Hollywood legend who studied journalism and, in the late 50s, landed a job writing gags for Rat Pack funnyman Joey Bishop. He broke into TV on the writing staff of The Tonight Show before adapting Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple for the small screen. An even bigger breakthrough came when he created Happy Days in 1974, followed by spin-offs Laverne & Shirley (starring his sister Penny) and Mork & Mindy.

He went on to direct such feature films as Young Doctors in Love, The Flamingo Kid, Overboard and Beaches before Pretty Woman gave him the biggest hit of his career. Set in the late 80s and released in 1990, it was conceived as a much darker story, with LA streetwise sex worker Vivian (Julia Roberts) struggling with a cocaine addiction and Edward (Richard Gere), the rich businessman who hires her for a week, abandoning her at the end.

Known for his heart-warming stories and flair for comedy, Garry worked closely with screenwriter J. F. Lawton to refashion it as a fairytale rom-com in which Vivian falls for Edward’s charms and she rescues him right back.

Marshall decided to make Vivian a more resilient character than she was in the preliminary draft. “After he got the script,” Barbara recalls, “he freshened it up and made her into this strong woman.”

The original production played Chicago’s Oriental Theatre in March 2018, with Britain’s Samantha Barks and US actor Steve Kazee as the leads, and opened at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre that August, breaking box office records and enjoying a year-long run. Andy Karl took over from Kazee and, during previews, a performance was dedicated to Marshall, with none other than Julia Roberts in attendance.

“She came and met the cast and we took pictures on the stage,” Barbara remembers fondly. “She was very cute. We were sitting together during the show and she would lean over and say, ‘I wrote that line’.”

The show played Hamburg in Germany in 2019 and the West End production opened at the Piccadilly Theatre in March 2020, with Aimie Atkinson as Vivian and Danny Mac as Edward. Forced to close because of the COVID pandemic, it reopened at the Savoy Theatre in July 2021, playing to packed houses until the final performance in June 2023.

As it sets off around the UK and Ireland, Kathleen ponders why audiences respond so positively to this particular story. “There’s a beautiful moment in Pretty Woman where you know that Edward sees who Vivian is and Vivian sees who Edward is, and that’s where they connect. There’s a joyousness in the way that people connect in my dad’s shows and films, and he did that in life as well. He really thought you should be there for people when it’s a hard day and be there for them when it’s a fun day.”

Barbara adds: “I think everybody remembers that movie as a happy moment or it helped them with something in their life.” She grins. “Now people come to this musical wearing the clothes, like the famous red dress or the trench coat with the same Julia outfit underneath, in the high boots and blonde wigs.”

And, as Kathleen points out, it’s not just for female audiences: “They bring their husbands and boyfriends, who then end up really enjoying it too.” She smiles. “There’s a lot there in the storytelling that’s really beautiful and romantic and uplifting, and I think everyone can connect to that.“