DIANA: THE MUSICAL On Netflix - News & Discussion Thread- Page 3

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 4:17pm

I remember mentioning this gave me EVITA vibes, but it also reminds me of the staged BOMBSHELL scenes from Smash and that’s not a bad thing at all! As far as the score, costume changes, similar themes, etc.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 5:10pm

Typing as I watch.

Some of these lyrics are awful.

Enjoying it for what it is and grateful that I will not be tempted to spend any money to see it live.

Queen Elizabeth singing is just something that takes me out of it because of her persona (and Judy Kaye's performance doesn't help).

This foreshadowing with the press is a little heavy-handed.

There are multiple William Ivey Long costume "tricks" in the first half hour which would be more impressive seeing them live on stage.

[Princeton2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 5:18pm

The tone is all over the place, at times its quite balanced and moving with some depth, then there are scenes like the James Hewitt song which are ridiculous in the extreme and others its just outright disrespectful.

I remember being glued to the TV the week she died and saying to my mum how similar it all felt to the evita movie that I'd not long watched. That's part of the problem, Diana's story to a certain degree has already been musicalised in evita. Any serious show would draw inevitable comparisons and find it difficult to draw its own narrative.

The ending is very weak, its crying out for 'don't forget me' from Bombshell.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 5:21pm

Showhopper2 said: "songanddanceman2 said: "Just about to watch this. Critics, especially here in the UK hate it, mainly one star reviews. "

Yeah British tabloids, like "Sun" They even wrote 2 negative articles within 30 minutes. ??‍♀️

I can't take them seriously...

Most media outside UK love it..."

Most media outside the UK love it? Like who?

And No, nobody with a brain  reads The Sun, but they do read the The Telegraph, The Gaurdian, the Times etc that all gave it one star. 

 

Sorry but this show is awful. It's a singing Wikipedia page with zero emotion in it. Accents by some of the cast are shocking, the music is dire, lyrics are worse. The book is embarrassing and allows no characters to evolve, its also massively cliche ridden. 

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 5:33pm

It feels like the authors would prefer to be writing a CHARLES musical. They are giving us so much of him trying to agonize between a flibbertigibbet and his older married flame. And in some ways it might be dramaturgically more interesting to center the story around Charles (even though that's not what the audience thinks it wants).

Perhaps that's because it's created entirely by men.

Updated On: 10/1/21 at 05:33 PM

[<3Ragtime2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 5:59pm

Diana loved theater and so some think she would have loved her own musical -- but this is just as bad as the community theater one.

 

[denali.fire]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 6:09pm

songanddanceman2 said: "Showhopper2 said: "songanddanceman2 said: "Just about to watch this. Critics, especially here in the UK hate it, mainly one star reviews. "

Yeah British tabloids, like "Sun" They even wrote 2 negative articles within 30 minutes. ??‍♀️

I can't take them seriously...

Most media outside UK love it..."

Most media outside the UK love it? Like who?

And No, nobody with a brain reads The Sun, but they do read the The Telegraph, The Gaurdian, the Times etc that all gave it one star.



Sorry but this show is awful. It's a singing Wikipedia page with zero emotion in it. Accents by some of the cast are shocking, the music is dire, lyrics are worse. The book is embarrassing and allows no characters to evolve, its also massively cliche ridden.

Dreadful show.  But what puzzles me is why did they run it on Netflix. 

I don't think it is going to stir anyone into buying tickets.    In fact if you see it free on TV why spend another 100 bucks.   

 

 

[<3Ragtime2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 6:25pm

Dreadful show. But what puzzles me is why did they run it on Netflix.

I don't think it is going to stir anyone into buying tickets. In fact if you see it free on TV why spend another 100 bucks."

Exactly. People who thought it was a stupid idea are just going to see they are right. The lyrics are the most embarassing part.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 6:40pm

Actually, I bought a ticket after watching it this morning. I enjoyed the show enough without an audience, so it was incentive for me to see it with one. Whether or not I end up going is another story, since Telecharge's refund policy leaves the option open to change my mind, but I thought it was a well-sung guilty pleasure.

Updated On: 10/1/21 at 06:40 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 6:45pm

Finished Act One. It is likable to a certain extent. de Waal is fantastic, Hartrampf's character has been written to be so unlikable, and Davie and Kaye are serviceable as per usual. 

Score is full of several likable Bryan earworms - like Memphis - though some have trite DiPietro lyrics. SIX clearly wins the battle of the pop-rock anthems for British royals.

The show is nearly wall-to-wall music, reminding me of other episodic theatrical material, namely Evita. Whatever book scenes there are are incredibly weak so far, and the story feels too rushed.

Chris Ashley has his first true misfire since Escape to Margaritaville, and Kelly Devine's frantic choreography is outshined by David Zinn's regal, upscale set and William Ivey Long's posh costumes. "Pretty, Pretty Girl" alone could give Long yet another Tony nod.

I don't see this lasting past January at the Longacre. 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 7:22pm

I have about 30 minutes left. No one is saying it’s great or maybe even good, but I needed something to watch after feeling a little blah getting my booster shot this afternoon and it fits the bill.

Everyone has covered its flaws quite well. The Crown covered all this material much better in their most recent season.

This will have closed way before I get back to New York City again which probably won’t be until 2023 if I’m lucky. So I’m glad I at least can see it here although I doubt that I would’ve paid money to see it on Broadway. But I could see it having some life on tour and I might be willing to see it on tour as I’m less particular when travel isn’t required and prices are less.

My two favorite parts so far:

The segment in the AIDS ward brought a tear to my eye.

And.. James Hewitt…

entering at the top of Act II….

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 7:25pm

I saw someone tweet about all the BIPOC creators who don’t get a chance on Broadway… when we have this type of crud coming out.

I had to agree with that perspective: what even is this crap?

[Scarlet Leigh]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 7:31pm

So I started to watch it but had to stop for a bit but I just... I GOTTA know......... is that quick change during "I Will" LEGIT how is happens in the show live on stage? Amazing quick changes are one of my favorite things EVER and this one would be up there high on the list..

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 7:57pm

So just finished it. Her death made me cry. I thought that and the song that preceded it were handled with grace. I do agree that it ends quite suddenly. I think there wasn’t much they could do since she basically already had her exit song before her death so to do another one about honoring her legacy & memory afterwards might’ve felt redundant tone-wise.

As far as why stuff like this makes it to Broadway when talented work by BIPOC creators doesn’t, the public loves stories of victimized white women whether it be Gabby Petito (very sad), Diana or Britney (I Britney). They are all deserving of our attention, but their stories tend to crowd out the stories of BIPOC. 
 
And let’s not forget who buys a big chunk of Broadway tickets: white women. 

[JGPR2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 8:37pm

"As far as why stuff like this makes it to Broadway when talented work by BIPOC creators doesn’t, the public loves stories of victimized white women whether it be Gabby Petito (very sad), Diana or Britney (I Britney). They are all deserving of our attention, but their stories tend to crowd out the stories of BIPOC. "

I don't think the color of Diana's skin had anything to do with it, maybe it was because she was one of the most famous women ever on the planet.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 9:23pm

Just finished it a few minutes. It was a glorious ride. Erin Davie as Camilla Parker Bowles was exquisite. It felt like a cross between a Ryan Murphy limited series and The WHO’s TOMMY and William Ivey Long’s costume recreations were spot-on and gave everything a connected authenticity. I dare anyone not be moved with Diana’s AIDS patients visit and the puffy wedding dress reveal was breathtaking. It was trashy, gossipy, historical, catty and fabulous. Looking forward to seeing this on Broadway when it starts. Something I had ZERO intentions on doing ever.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 9:31pm

This is probably a more nuanced conversation than this forum can contain, but yes Diana is still one of the most beloved people on the planet. And like it or not, her whiteness played into it. I think after these last two years, if Diana had survived she would agree.

First of all, Charles was never going to marry a woman of color. So even if a woman of color could have married him and her life followed a very similar arc as Diana’s (and people adored her as they did Diana), it never would have happened because Charles was never going to marry a POC.

Second, as I referenced in my earlier post, America and much of the world have an affinity for the wounded white female victim/martyr/saint.

So yes again Diana was & is much beloved (including by me). Yes, she suffered. Yes, she did a lot of good. But both truths can lie side by side. White suffering/stories are also given by-and-large more weight than those of POC.

And the media/Broadway feed into this second truth. Take the Gabby Petito story. Sad story to be sure (I was riveted too), but countless black trans and indigenous women either go missing or are murdered every year, but their stories barely (if that) get a mention. They certainly don’t dominate the news cycle for a week or more.

So to some degree both the media and Broadway give us what we want or what they think we want. Then we eat it up (sometimes - I don’t have high hopes for Diana) which just fuels more of the same.

And be clear I think there’s nothing wrong with having a Diana musical. I do think it’s a wasted opportunity because it could’ve been so much better. Look at the last season of The Crown which handled this storyline with much more subtlety and will probably continue to do so in their next season.

If we can have a musical about SpongeBob, I think we can have a musical about Diana. But the question was why we have subpar products like this on Broadway instead of more stories by BIPOC creators. I stand by my reasoning. I don’t think it has to be either/or. I think it can be both/and.

And yes, I do think things are changing…slowly.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 10:06pm

So this is definitely closing by January, correct? Honestly when they announced this would be filmed for Netflix, I didn't think it was returning to Broadway. But maybe a show has to officially open so the rights can be sold?

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 10:08pm

LOL. This was dreadful but I’m happy to have been able to watch from home.

If we’re going to talk about who/what gets produced for Broadway, I still find it hilarious that the “legitimacy” of something like this isn’t questioned when just the other day a poster here made a comment that the description of “chicken and biscuits” sounded like something that should be playing at the Apollo and asked why it’s on Broadway.

But mostly I agree that this board is not the place for those conversations.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 10:13pm

JGPR2 said: ""As far as why stuff like this makes it to Broadway when talented work by BIPOC creators doesn’t, the public loves stories of victimized white women whether it be Gabby Petito (very sad), Diana or Britney (IBritney). They are all deserving of our attention, but their stories tend to crowd out the stories of BIPOC. "

I don't think the color of Diana's skin had anything to do with it, maybe it was because she was one of the most famous women ever on the planet."

Exactly. It was HUGE news story. I don't remember much about it, too young, but what I do remember is my mother's reaction to it and seeing her so sullen for a woman who lived across the sea. So it really effected a ton of people. And it's a very interesting story of media, fame, etc. 

I urge any BIPOC who is complaining to CREATE. If you want your story told, write it. 

I only watched the first half hour, but I'm enjoying. It's giving me exactly what I thought it would. I have to say. I really dig the orchestrations and the sound design. It feels LIVE to me, and I think that's pretty cool. 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 10:17pm

It’s humorous that you assume BIPOC haven’t been creating since….forever.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/1/21 at 11:35pm

Yes, the lyrics could use a polish, but I enjoyed the show well enough. I didn’t care for the edits made to “The Dress” song the censoring was obvious to the point of distraction but other than that I thought it was mostly campy fun. The leads are making the most of the material they’ve been given and the scenery, lighting and especially the costumes did an excellent job distracting me from whatever weaknesses lie within the material. I’m still a little confused about the ending. “The people who will change the world are not the ones you think will change the world?” Are they saying no one expected Diana to make such an impression and leave such a legacy? It’s hard to see that now after the fact. It’s an odd sentiment to end the show on.

Updated On: 10/2/21 at 11:35 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/2/21 at 12:43am

Going to try to refrain from watching it and see it live first.

[sng]

Posted: 10/2/21 at 1:43am

Just simply dreadful. This will close before it even opens

[Dolly80]

Posted: 10/2/21 at 2:08am

Whoever decided this should go out on Netflix before opening on Broadway needs to be fired.

It will now attempt to open with a load of damning Netflix reviews saying how dreadful it is. It won’t last until Christmas.
The whole enterprise was utterly foolish (and doomed)from the beginning.