For women of a certain age, there are few romantic comedies as perfect as the 1990 Garry Marshall film, "Pretty Woman."

Julia Roberts radiated joy as Vivian, an ingenue who works the streets of Hollywood as a prostitute. She had snappy chemistry with Richard Gere, who played Edward, the uptight millionaire who saved her by giving her someone to love — and stuff to buy (one of the best scenes is when Vivian gets her revenge on the Rodeo Drive sales associates who earlier refused to help her). The movie was charming and sexy and had the requisite happy ending.

No wonder it was made into a musical.

But our #MeToo era seems the exact wrong moment to launch a show on Broadway that's based on a 30-year-old rom-com. Our understanding of a woman's place in society, and of what men and women owe to each other, has changed. We no longer think women need saving. We start with the presumption that they're smart and capable and able to make their own decisions.

Miraculously, the new "Pretty Woman: The Musical" understands that, which is why it works. In the original, much of the humor was fish-out-of-water stuff: when Edward tells Vivian to get rid of her gum, she spits it on the ground. Here, the jokes are more often on Edward (a suavely vulnerable Andy Karl), and his inability to have normal, human relationships with others. From the beginning, this Vivian (in a breakout performance by Samantha Barks) is whip-smart, strong and soulful — and she makes it clear that she's been working the streets only for a short time, and that it was a mistake. She's a character we can cheer for without reservation.

This new complexity of character (and Edward's, too) is boosted by the songs from Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. What a perfect choice. They suit the 1980s setting, but instead of being pop bubbles that float away without leaving an impression, they capture both the grittiness and hopefulness of the period and the characters. "I Can't Go Back," for example, is a girlpower anthem: "For the first time in my life/It gets to be my choice/I feel I've found myself/yeah/I've found my voice."

The creative team has pulled off a magic trick. This is a show that will delight almost everyone: die-hard fans, guilty-pleasure fans who worried about "Pretty Woman's" misogyny, and women who have never seen the original. Like "Waitress," it's a musical about a woman finding herself. And this Vivian deserves to be found.

"Pretty Woman The Musical," directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell with a book by Garry Marshall and J.F. Lawton and music and lyrics by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. In an open run at the Nederlander Theatre.