Tony Award-winning director Christopher Ashley (Come From Away) and the wrtiers behind the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis (Joe DiPietro and David Bryan) bring us face-to-face with one of the 20th century's most compelling figures in this landmark musical event, featuring an epic and sweeping contemporary score.
This musical is truly awful and truly nuts, but-intentionally or not-it neatly reflects straight back to the audience the cartoon and circus the royal family has become both in the eyes of the world, and in the world's own making. De Waal appears before us in front of a wall of flashing lights, and exits the same way-in the glare of the paparazzi. But the paparazzi aren't the villains here; they are merely fulfilling their editors' and audience's desire to see pictures and get the story. As the musical makes clear, the royal family -a fusty institution desperate for an injection of glamor-needed Diana too. Eventually Diana recognizes her own power, and uses the media for her own ends.
I could cite a number of even more cringe-worthy lyrics, but why bother? In truth, Diana isn't much more insipid than any number of musical hagiographies that have popped up in recent decades, and director Christopher Ashley, to his credit, guides it with a light hand, having fun with the dishier aspects of the story rather than wallowing in the pathos. A scene documenting Diana's rapport with AIDS patients is offset by one in which her boy toy James Hewitt turns up, played by a strapping, shirtless Gareth Keegan, bumping and grinding a bit of relief into our heroine's dreary lot. Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, is a stock character, the dutiful but mischievous servant, but Anthony Murphy plays him with infectious relish.
| 2019 | San Diego, CA (Regional) |
World Premiere at La Jolla Playhouse San Diego, CA (Regional) |
| 2021 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Jeanna de Waal |
| 2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical | Natasha Katz |
| 2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Paul Huntley |
| 2022 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | William Ivey Long |
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