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Director Jerry Mitchell Begins Casting Broadway's "Pretty Woman" Musical

But your favorite movie scenes may be cut from the stage adaptation.

It would be a big mistake to miss this show. Huge.

A musical version of the 1990 film Pretty Woman, which starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, is aiming to open on Broadway during the 2018-2019 season, EW reports. Director Jerry Mitchell, a two-time Tony winner for his choreography in Kinky Boots and La Cage aux Folles, says that he's about to start the casting process.

Garry Marshall, who directed the classic rom-com about a millionaire businessman and his call girl, wrote the new musical with J.F. Lawton, the film’s screenwriter. Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance wrote the songs, which Mitchell describes as "rock driven, beautiful ballads, and they do have a lot of pep in them."

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NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 23: Director Jerry Mitchell attends the "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" Broadway opening night at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 23, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

How will Mitchell find an actress to fill Julia's big hooker boots? "So my Vivian needs to be able to sing like a dream, obviously," says the gay theater vet, who created Broadway Bares. "I’m looking for a girl who is vulnerable, who can share those emotions on stage. Also comic timing: It’s going to have a lot of comedy in it. Somebody who’s really funny is going to be important to the part."

As for the character created by Gere, Mitchell says, “We have to feel like Edward’s been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Again, he has to be an incredible singer—but most importantly, someone who can appear, even with all of that, extremely lost in social skills. It has to be an actor that walks onstage and you immediately like him and feel comfortable with him, even though he’s not quite comfortable with his own situation yet."

Mitchell also details some of the changes from screen to stage: The bathtub scene, the polo match, and those slippery snails have all been cut, but a homeless character now "pops in and out throughout the whole show."

It was first reported back in 2014 that Marshall was working on a Broadway musical adaptation of Pretty Woman. He died last summer at age 81.

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