Bryan Adams announces his Pretty Woman musical is coming to London soon

1 March 2019, 17:45

Bryan Adams / Pretty Woman
Picture: Getty/Buena Vista Pictures

By Tom Eames

A musical based on the romcom classic Pretty Woman will open in London next year.

Bryan Adams has written the music and lyrics for the adaptation of the 1990 movie alongside his songwriting partner Jim Vallance.

The musical is currently playing on Broadway in New York City, and will head to London in 2020.

Asked if the show was going to open in the West End, he told the Press Association: “It is. 2020. It’s all set in motion now.

“I know it’s going to Germany this year, it opens in September this year, and then it’s going to London next year. I’m excited about it.”

Describing his process for writing the songs, he said: “I really have got to be honest, I didn’t watch the movie once the whole time that we were working on it.

“I was working out of New York and I would go down to the rehearsal studio every day and sit with the director and ask him what he wanted the songs to do to propel the narrative.

“I didn’t really want to be influenced by the film, I just wanted to be influenced by the story and how the director today was going to reinterpret it for the stage, you have to remember the film is literally mostly close-ups of Richard Gere and Julia Roberts so it’s not really set as a wide angle.

“So how do you transcend those very personal shots into song, that was the challenge.”

Bryan Adams is currently touring the UK, and his latest album Shine a Light - featuring the title track co-written with Ed Sheeran - is released today (March 1).