Brits on Broadway: Samantha Barks

It's been a long and winding road for Samantha Barks, born and raised in Laxey on the Isle of Man, but she has finally made it to Rodeo Drive... er, we mean Broadway, of course! Starring as Vivian Ward (immortalised by Julia Roberts in the 1990 hit movie "Pretty Woman" - in the same year, in fact, that Ms. Barks was born), she is rocking those iconic thigh-high, PVC boots and strutting her stuff down Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Boulevard and a handful of other famous L.A. stretches eight times a week at New York City's Nederlander Theatre in Pretty Woman: The Musical! And what a powerhouse performance she is giving!

At a recent performance I attended, it was Ms. Barks' second show that day and already four months into her gruelling run on Broadway, yet her vocal stamina is astonishing. She is truly making the most of Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance's catchy, soft-rock score and belting out numbers such as "I Can't Go Back" and "Anywhere but Here" with both a power and clarity that I'm positive is the envy of many of her New York counterparts.

Re-imagining an iconic film role on stage isn't always easy, especially when the stage adaptation's creative team was also behind the movie itself. So is the case with Pretty Woman: The Musical that features a book by the late Garry Marshall (who directed the film) and J.F. Lawton (who wrote the screenplay). Add to that the fact that costume designer Gregg Barnes has remained ultra-loyal to the source material and created virtual replicas of some of the outfits worn by Julia Roberts and it would seem as if the deck has been stacked against Ms. Barks being able to put her own stamp on the beloved character. Obviously the creative team, under the direction of Jerry Mitchell, has put most of its eggs in the 'nostalgia basket' with this production and audiences were certainly lapping up the iconic hooker costume (complete with blonde wig) and gorgeous red gown on the evening I attended. However, as I left the theatre, I couldn't help but admire Ms. Barks and wonder at her performance. She exuded instant likeability from the very first number and took on a role in a well-known story that today might be described as "a feminist's nightmare". Through Ms. Barks' performance, however, you never felt like she was a victim and her connection to co-star Andy Karl (an Olivier Award-winner for his turn as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day) as Edward Lewis was so well-balanced that, as an audience member, you were never unsure of the fact that these characters were both saving each other.

"What's Your Dream?" is a line repeated frequently by a character in the musical simply listed as 'Happy Man' - a character that hands out maps to the stars' homes on Hollywood Boulevard and serves as our semi-guide through the piece. Without a doubt, Ms. Barks is currently living her dream as a leading lady on Broadway... and she may just be the "Luckiest Girl in the World"!

Pretty Woman: The Musical Tickets are available now for performances through to June 9, 2019.