Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
#1Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/2/23 at 7:39am
To celebrate the coronation I finally caught this on Netflix. I actually think the show would work and be 'so much better' if it really amped up the camp factor and didn't try to take itself seriously (I feel the tone of the show right now doesn't work well because it's a combination of camp and sincerity). Imagining a Diana, Queen in drag and singing these songs, saying these lyrics etc. makes me chuckle so much and I'd LOVE to see it. So the tone would seem more like a parody than real.
Would this even be possible to do a show without special permission from the licensing org?
When my goodbye post was removed: “but I had a great dramatic finish!!!!”
#2Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/2/23 at 8:02am
I never got to see it live, but my understanding is that the cast and creative team were much more in on the joke when doing it live and dialed up the camp. I think they would heartily support a Drag version.
Islander_fan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#3Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/2/23 at 8:32am
The problem isn’t that it was camp. The problem is that it was intended to be campy at all. When the writers noticed that people were laughing at moments they initially never intended to be comical, they just rolled with it as a PR move.
I worked that show for pretty much the entire preview period and opening night, and words cannot describe the looks I saw on the faces of the creative team taking notes when there were moments that were getting laughter. Let’s just say it was not good at all.
#4Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/2/23 at 8:41am
I think a cut down version of the show (to 90 mins or shorter) and cast with drag queens and other high-camp performers and done in a low budget production in a nightlife venue or smaller theater has the potential to work very well.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#5Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/2/23 at 9:25am
Despite directing Xanadu, Christopher Ashley doesn’t exactly have a good finger on camp. He tries to infuse some sense of seriousness in most things he directs, when the plot doesn’t call for it at all.
#6Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/3/23 at 12:43pm
While this might be successful, I'm not sure its respectful of Diana. Yes, she was an LGBTQ ally and AIDS activist, but I'm not sure turning her life into a complete drag farce is the right optics.
Robert Harling has declined and halted any attempts at Steel Magnolias being done in drag. His sister died tragically and the show was made in her memory. There may have been a few SM drag parodies that have squeaked by, but he keeps tabs and stops them if he can.
Diana was a real person and she wasn't campy in the slightest. Great sense of humor when allowed it, but not campy.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#7Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/3/23 at 1:00pm
At a certain point you have to separate the actual person from lore the world crafted.. She’s probably one above the most famous women to ever live, like it or not a character has been created.
Tag
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
#8Could a 'Diana musical' be performed as all-drag camp fest?
Posted: 5/3/23 at 1:29pm
Keep your eyes on this new play about Diana, opening at the Stratford Festival soon.
Casey and Diana
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