Attention British Broadway Fans

I would also be curious to hear reactions from British people. For what it's worth, here's a thread about Diana on the UK theatre message board:

https://theatreboard.co.uk/thread/6984/princess-diana-musical-broadway

But the reactions aren't particularly informative. Partly because, like most people, they haven't actually seen the show yet. But also, most of the thread is just discussing the fact that there have actually been several other Princess Di musicals in the past.

Fosse76 said: "MoniBinis said: "Does it feel too soon/insensitive? Should if have been written by an English writing team? "

She's been dead for 24 years. We are long past too soon."



I would argue that it isn't necessarily "too soon," but it is kind of gross to consider that what killed Diana was the invasive spotlight - people taking ownership of her life and her story and trying to profit from it. And this musical, no matter how tasteful it may be (and I don't actually know if it's tasteful), is ultimately a commercial venture, designed to capitalize even further on her fame.

But I digress. The OP was asking for British perspectives, and I'm American.

Updated On: 7/26/21 at 12:35 PM

I'm British, but don't have strong feelings about it because I'm not interested in the monarchy. It could be tasteless, it could be good. If it's well written and thoughtfully made, then why not?

I'm sure someone will complain about it because the royals make an attention-grabbing headline, and a lot of people will read 'musical' and assume it's nothing but shallow escapism. But if the musical actually has something compelling to say about that exact weird celebrity culture surrounding modern royalty, maybe it's for the best that the writers aren't British.

I mean, people on both sides of the Pond seem to be fine with The Crown, which is basically an expensive and well-acted soap opera, so why not a musical. The musical really just has to justify its own existence, and if it's good, then so be it.

CATSNYrevival said: "A British writing team wrote a musical about an Argentinian First Lady. I won’t argue that a British creative team might have brought more authenticity to Diana’s story but no one wrote it. I don’t think it’s “too soon” as the show doesn’t seem to focus on her death much at all. It’s about her life not her death."

It was written. It just went no where.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6792867/Welsh-hairdresser-Natasha-John-chosen-play-Princess-Diana-West-End-Musical-Call-Diana.html

Fair points written above. I do get a kind of cash-grab vibe from it, especially given the poor early reception. But you're correct that I should withhold judgement until I see it. And as for the commercial nature of it - I stand by what I said, with one major caveat: it's probably naïve and short-sighted of me to dismiss the capacity of commercial theatre to start dialogue via its increased reach and visibility. Of course there have been hundreds of commercial productions that tackled important issues in respectful ways. And there's real value in that.

It's just a shame that the most wide-reaching avenue for theatrical art is also the most driven by capitalism. Under this system, with greater outreach comes greater potential for exploitation. With literally any commercial production, it's worth asking the questions: who stands the most to gain from the financial success of this story? And are the people being presented given a fair shake? Of course, it gets tricky when talking about someone like Diana, because she was quite privileged, and it's not as if any money going to her or her family would solve anything. And yet, in her own unique way, she was still a victim of the same system that will benefit the show. This musical isn't alone in that, but neither is it absolved from that complicity. But as you point out, that also doesn't mean the show automatically has nothing of value to offer via the increased visibility of Broadway+Netflix. As I often say on this board: more than one thing can be true.

But to be clear: the mere fact that it's a musical has no bearing on whether I think the show's existence is tasteful or not. Anyone who's truly familiar with the world of musical theatre knows that the stereotypical image of the "tacky song and dance musical about [insert serious subject]" is a mostly a fallacy. Although, I think calling anything "____: The Musical" does play into that expectation. Because it overtly implies that the "original" is something to be commodified via name recognition. It feels lazy, cheap, and exploitative. I said the same thing when a show called "Anne Frank: The Musical" played Off-Broadway a few years ago.

And before anyone says it: I'm aware that the marketing makes use of the subtitle "A True Musical Story" which I do think is much more tasteful. But it's still listed in many places as "Diana: The Musical," including on IBDB.

Updated On: 7/26/21 at 03:49 PM