Bryan Adams musical will open in Brisbane
By Nick Dent
Canadian music icon Bryan Adams rocked Brisbane on Thursday night, but the Heaven and Summer of ’69 singer saved the encore for QPAC on Friday morning.
Adams announced that the musical for which he co-wrote the music and lyrics, an adaptation of the film Pretty Woman, will make its southern hemisphere debut in Brisbane in October, at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre.
“I’m thrilled Pretty Woman is finally in Australia, I went to see it last year and it blew me away,” Adams said.
Rocker Bryan Adams performing in Melbourne last week. Adams co-wrote the songs to the musical version of the hit film Pretty Woman, playing in Brisbane in October 2025.Credit: Rick Clifford
“I’m so excited to premiere this production in Brisbane,” producer Suzanne Jones said.
Now considered a classic romantic comedy, Pretty Woman was released in 1990, and concerns a Los Angeles prostitute, Vivian, whose life is turned around when she is hired to spend the week with a wealthy businessman, Edward.
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in 1990’s Pretty Woman.Credit: Disney
The film turned 23-year-old Julia Roberts into a megastar overnight, and revived Richard Gere’s bankability as a leading man.
Dismissed by some critics as a fluffy Cinderella story, it has undergone a reappraisal in recent years.
The musical version was co-written by the film’s original director, the late Garry Marshall, and its screenwriter J.F. Lawton.
Premiering in Chicago in 2018, it had a one-year run on Broadway, a two-year run in London’s West End, and a European tour.
Adams co-wrote the musical’s songs with his writing partner Jim Vallance.
Welsh actor Amber Davies in the UK production of Pretty Woman: The Musical.Credit: Marc Brenner
The Roy Orbison song of the title, Oh, Pretty Woman, was not initially in the show, but has since been added.
The ticket waitlist is now open.