“Diana”: Three Acts in the Life of a Musical

It’s the story of a Broadway musical about Princess Diana. You probably already know the plot!

“She was a phenomenon and on her own she transformed the Royal Family from a national institution into a global corporation,” said Andrew Morton, author of “Diana: Her True Story., ” the 1992 book that revealed Diana’s misfortune.

“Prince Charles had had this relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Like [Diana] famously said, there were three of them in the wedding, so it was pretty crowded. “

Correspondent David Pogue notes that the story of the journey of this musical can be broken down perfectly into three acts.

Act I: A show is born

“I happened to be reading about it,” Joe De Pietro said, “and I was like, ‘This is a great idea for a story and a musical.’

De Pietro and composer David Bryan began writing the show in 2016.

“It’s a show where there are no villains, it’s just people trying to make things work in a very difficult situation,” said De Pietro.

“Are there no bad guys?” Pogue asked. “You’re the guy who rhymed ‘Camilla’ with ‘Godzilla!'”

“But it’s through Diana’s eyes,” replied De Pietro.

They reached out to Christopher Ashley, artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse in California, about the staging. “Our story takes us from the age of 19, the day she met Prince Charles, to divorce,” he said. “So it’s really a marriage story.”

“It’s a little soap opera,” Pogue said.

“Plus he has a story,” Ashley said. “For me, the moment I really got into Diana was when I saw the picture of her shaking the hand of a young man with AIDS. And that really moved me a lot.”

All they had to do was find a Diana. They found her in Jeanna De Waal.

Ashley said: “Jeanna came in and she was absolutely final on her first audition.”

De Waal told Pogue: “All of my preparation started with watching all the countless YouTube videos that we have – how did she move? How did she hold up? How did she speak?”

“And what about the accent?

“Yes, I’m British, but she has a totally different accent,” De Waal said. “I think my normal accent fluctuates really a lot. But Diana kinda talks a lot more forward, you know? Very forward and quite twangy, and very articulate.”

For Diana aficionados, Diana’s biggest costar might just be her costumes. William Ivey Long designed the costumes for 75 Broadway shows, but he really wanted this one. “It’s the closest to my heart of any show I’ve ever worked on,” he said.

“Because the main character is known for his fashion, right? Pogue said. “I mean, the wedding dress is famous. The revenge dress is famous.”

“The John Travolta dress!” Long said. “She was famous, among other things, for her fashion sense. Everyone wanted to see her. Everyone wanted to be her.”

During the show, De Waal wears 34 different outfits. Pogue said, “By my calculations, it’s less than four minutes per outfit. How do you do that? I mean, is that Velcro?

“It’s a secret,” Long smirked.

“It’s Velcro!” Pogue insisted.

“I can guarantee you there’s not an ounce of velcro in any of these things,” Long laughed.

After a successful trial run at La Jolla Playhouse, everything was set for a Broadway opening in March 2020.

And then the curtain fell.

De Waal recalls, “We got ready for our daily notes session, and our lead producer told us that the Broadway ensemble was shutting down for a bit.”

COVID-19 closed the musical “Diana” even before it opened.

Act II: Netflix

Director Christopher Ashley said, “The creative team started coming together the day after Broadway closed. We wrote a new song and really reworked the first act in depth. And then the possibility of Netflix went on. is presented. “

The show’s producers had made a deal to film that Broadway musical that never actually opened on Broadway. And so, in the heart of the pandemic, in August 2020, the cast spent four weeks living in an isolation bubble, rehearsing for the Netflix shoot in their empty theater.

Pogue asked, “Nobody said, ‘Who’s going to buy a ticket to a show if they’ve seen it on TV?’

“I think that turned out to be wrong,” Ashley said. “If you think, for example, of the impact of the movie ‘Chicago’, it’s still shown on Broadway, the show live. I actually think people want to see something live for themselves that they have lived on film. “

The Netflix movie “Diana” will be available on October 1.

To watch a preview of the filmed performance of “Diana: The Musical” by Netflix, click on the video player below:

Act III: Return to Broadway

A few weeks ago, “Sunday Morning” caught up with Jeanna De Waal, who will be donning Diana’s blonde wigs on the show. ultimately opens in November.

“How did your pandemic go? Pogue asked.

“Longer than expected!” she laughed.

“I can’t really think of what that would be like – I mean, you are D– repeat a show that you have already repeated twice! “

“It’s really like a third marriage! De Waal laughed.

“At the moment, you’ve been on the show for five years, still don’t know if it’s a success?”

“We really don’t know! But we will find out very quickly, very quickly! Because the release of Netflix means we won’t just be judged by critics of the New York scene; that means we’re going to be judged by everyone at the same time, which I’m pretty happy with. “

The Broadway show premieres on November 2… at least, if things don’t change again.

Pogue said, “Now I hate being that guy, but right now this story has a nice three-act structure. The show meets Broadway; the show loses Broadway; the show gets Broadway. But this Delta variant… is there a problem?

“Well, of course there is concern,” De Waal said. “I mean, how could you not to worry? But that’s just the nature of being an artist. You kind of have to surrender and have faith. “

For more information:

Story produced by Julie Kracov. Editor: Karen Brenner.

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