Amber Davies: TV star can't wait to bring Pretty Woman to 'favourite place' Edinburgh
The Love Island winner turned West End star is excited to return to the Capital.
TV star Amber Davies has revealed Edinburgh is the Pretty Woman tour destination she's been most excited for since the get-go.
The Love Island winner turned West End star performed at the Playhouse as part of Dolly Parton-inspired musical 9 to 5 and can't wait to return to the Capital. Davies and the rest of the cast are set to start a two-week run in Auld Reekie on Tuesday, April 2.
Fresh from a stint as Simon Proulx-Sénécal's Dancing on Ice partner, the 27-year-old has resumed her 'dream role' as Vivian Ward with a British and Irish tour set to continue throughout the year.
Davies told the Evening News: "Every time I've done an interview, they say to me 'where are you might excited to go?' and (instead of the interviewer's city), I say Edinburgh. I came to Edinburgh with 9 to 5 for two weeks and it was the best two weeks of the tour.
"I say it's my favourite place in the UK. Don't get me wrong - I love London, obviously I live here, but if I could move anywhere I'd move to Edinburgh. I'm so excited.
"Hamilton are in Edinburgh at the same time and I have a few friends in Hamilton. A lot of people have friends in Hamilton from the cast, so I feel like all of us being up there together, it's just going to be so much fun."
A big fan of the 1990 film, Davies has relished the challenge of pulling off the starring role immortalised by Julia Roberts.
She said: "Anything with Julia Roberts I'm a fan of. For me, it is a very nostalgic film. My dad, all my life, has been very much into films so he'd make me and my sister watch Back to the Future and Pretty Woman.
"I feel like when you're doing a musical that's a movie, you have to bring it to life in a different way. But it's already written for us, really, with the songs and the dance routines. I just felt so honoured to have to sit down and watch Pretty Woman and do my research that's way.
"It's just embracing the character and when you watch her from a different perspective of learning, she's so intelligent and clever with the choices that she makes that I felt I knew what direction to go with it and to pay her homage rather than be a caricature."
Fans can expect a unique twist on the classic movie, with a few surprise moments added in for good measure.
"We try and hit all the iconic moments, so we like to pull you into the Pretty Woman world", she continued.
"Many of our audiences are familiar with the show so they'll know a lot of the songs and, of course, we do get to sing Pretty Woman at the end with everybody.
"I feel like it's nice for them because... the script is very similar to the film but they also have these exciting moments that they didn't know were coming. But we don't take it away from the original story at all."
Davies has also enjoyed working with the cast, which includes TV presenter Ore Oduba as the 'Happy Man'.
She said: "I always end up in really good casts and I feel like my luck is going to run out, but it hasn't yet! Ore Oduba is amazing, he's become a really good friend of mine, Oliver Savile, Natalie Paris - they're strong, strong performers.
"For me, just to share the stage with them, you're always growing but when you're co-starring with people like that and it makes your evenings extra special."
The Welsh actress is the first to acknowledge her career has been a whirlwind, turning down a role in Hairspray to search for love on the ITV2 dating show. But she is delighted to have returned to her theatre roots after finding fame on the small screen.
She added: "As soon as I did 9 to 5, I knew I was so glad that I had done this and come back into this industry. Honestly, it's just been non-stop and I've loved every single second of it.
"I was nervous to do Dancing on Ice and Pretty Woman at the same time because I was so scared of getting an injury but luckily, that all went well and the Pretty Woman cast were so supportive of that.
"I feel like Vivian is the biggest role I've played so far and to take that around the UK is special. I'm glad that I'm ticking her off my dream role list."
And despite racking up plenty of experience in TV, she still feels most at home in the theatre world. "I would take being on stage every single day", Davies continued.
"I'm not joking. I went ice-skating on national television so maybe that's why it was so daunting but I've never felt so nervous doing television as when I did Dancing on Ice.
"As soon as I stepped back on stage after coming back, it was like a weight had been taken off my shoulders because I was in my comfort zone."
You can buy tickets for Pretty Woman at the Playhouse here.