Proshot: Diana, The Musical

Diana, The Musical on Netflix leaves theatre lovers one click away from a ticket to the main event.

I’ll start by saying this is a bit bittersweet. I had held off watching and sharing thoughts on the Netflix proshot because I was hoping to have the chance to see Diana in person at the Longacre. In the original 2019/2020 season (before the shutdown), Diana was one of my top picks to catch while in NYC. I was planning to catch it in about April of 2020, and then, well, you know…

So the fact it got a proshot was exciting, given it’s already shaky perception with the average theatre-going population. I knew the show wouldn’t have a long life on Broadway, simply because musicals centered around dramatizing history and historical figures tend to be very polarizing, and are either beloved or quickly swept under the rug.

Unfortunately, I was not able to catch Diana before it closed in December, so I grabbed a few blankets and curled up on my couch to watch it over the holiday.

I went into the show with an open mind. Critiques of the subject matter aside, this is a piece of art, it is interpretive, and it existed to tell a story and to be consumed. It is telling a perception of a narrative that is already laced with dramatics and is amplifying certain aspects of a story to create a piece of entertainment.

Before we dig into some of the nitty-gritty details, I would like to say overall, I enjoyed the show. I thought it was fun, the music is catchy, and the campy dramatization just makes for an enjoyable night at the theatre (or in this case, the couch). I find this to be a significant point where theatre goers have kind of lost the nuance of intention in theatre. We want everything to groundbreaking. And while that’s fair, I don’t think Diana was necessarily intending to do anything we hadn’t seen before. It’s a retelling of a story from history that many people are already familiar with, dramatized, and set to the soundtrack of 80s rock.

Jeanna de Waal’s performance was definitely everything I wanted it to be and more. De Waal absolutely embodied Diana for the entirety of the show and gave life to the character of Diana as she fits into this dramatic piece. It felt like watching a little bit of history reanimate on stage, like de Waal wasn’t Jeanna as Diana, she just was Diana. Her rich vocals packed emotion into her performance, and de Waal flawlessly manages dozens of costume changes, many on stage and in the middle of the number, and makes it look effortless—a true people’s princess of the stage. Some of the strongest points of the show are Diana’s solos, because the showcase de Waal’s powerhouse vocals. Going into the show I really loved “Underestimated” and “If”, but found watching the songs in context, I also really loved “Happiness/Simply Breathe”.

Roe Hartrampf’s Broadway debut as Prince Charles was a delicate blend of infuriating and enchanting. Similar to de Waal, it really felt like watching Charles on stage, versus an actor playing a character. Both Hartrampf and de Waal play well off each other and packed complex, real emotions into their performances. I think his performance was really captured in “Diana (The Rage)” because Hartrampf really has the opportunity to act through song, and even watching a recording of the show in TV, I could really feel the emotion he was putting into the song that then bubbles into the audience, and allows you as an audience member to feel that breaking point with Charles. We’ve seen him be a jerk from the start, but this is the part where the pleasantries between Diana and Charles really break down, and they’re confronted by their struggles in their marriage. It’s definitely not an easy number to build that kind of emotion, and I think the execution of that range of emotion was a strong point of Hartrampf’s performance. We love to hate him as Charles, but if Hartrampf can play a two-faced prince with nuance and gusto, I think he had a very bright future ahead of him on Broadway.

I also really like the use of the ensemble in this company. One of my favorite parts to watch was some of the ensemble choreography, and I think it built the overall aesthetic of the show. I loved the use of the ensemble as the press and palace aids, which created almost a “Greek Chorus” kind of character that enhanced the personality of the dramatization. I always love watching bits of the ensemble because it’s all choreographed and intentional, so the use of several of the ensemble members as this collective voice kind of “whispering” or fueling the dramatics between Charles, Camilla and Diana was very interesting use of the ensemble to me.

Finally, we can’t talk about this show without mentioning the costumes and quick changes. While I don’t want to hang up on the actual designs, other than giving them a nod for taking the pieces Diana wore during her lifetime and bringing them to life for the stage, I thought it fit well into the aesthetic of the show. The part I found was more impressive was the quick changes, especially those that took place on stage. I found myself trying to figure out how they executed some of those changes, and some I’ll just chalk up to being theatre magic. I love shows with fun costumes and fun quick changes. I think Diana really took the opportunity to convey some of the storytelling through the visuals of the costumes, which might be one of the strongest points of the show.

This show has a campy vibe that is best enjoyed by grabbing your best friends and curling up with some snacks and wine to just completely have fun with it. I’m sad I wasn’t able to catch this live because I bet it was just a ball to be in the audience.

After a twice-extended out-of-town limited engagement at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2019, Diana was set to transfer to Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in March 2020, which was then delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The proshot of the film premiered on Netflix on October 1, 2021, one month ahead of its resumed run on Broadway. Diana officially opened at the Longacre Theatre on November 17, 2021, and played its final performance on December 19, 2021, after 33 regular performances and 16 previews.