Pretty Woman

This is definitely one for people who love, or at least enjoyed the film. Not that this re-creates the film on stage in any sense, it tells the story of a hooker, pulled from the street and "making it good" through an energetic cast and some imaginative set and lighting changes.

However, for me, the storytelling just didn't work. The scenes seemed disjointed with high comedy and serious romance bashing together uncomfortably rather than merging and flowing smoothly into each other. An uneven sound balance for the singers didn't help and the energy on stage failed to cover over the issues. Ore Oduba does a sterling job moving between multiple characters, including that of a narrator whose interactions with the audience, although excellently delivered, seem out of place. 

Of course, little of this mattered to an audience largely swept along by their love of the film, clearly what is expected as there is a slightly force pause to allow the audience to shout in at a critical part of the dialogue, which they duly did. I'm not sure that the show was meant to stack up as a stand-alone musical but was always intended for an audience already sold on the film characters - as such, it ticks all the boxes, it just did not do it for me personally.