DIANA: THE MUSICAL On Netflix - News & Discussion Thread- Page 7

[Princeton2]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 4:35pm

It's easy to see why Netflix chose this, they have realised Diana is still a money making machine thanks to the crown. They also always have multiple documentaries on her available too.

What's more puzzling/interesting is how Harry will handle this now he has sold his soul to them. Netflix is completely capitalising on Diana's memory and that's something he supposedly hates.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:01pm

From a week ago, prior to the Netflix airing.

 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:10pm

Playbill_Trash said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "This was filmed during COVID and is one of the first projects to go into production when protocols were being implemented. The announcement that it would be filmed came out until August 2020 - a few months into the global shutdown. Filming without an audience was the only way this could be filmed - it wasn’t an optional decision they agreed on. The entire cast and crew had to be quarantined together for 2 weeks just to be able to film this AND they still followed COVID protocols with masks on at all times until filming. This wasn’t filmed as a single performance from start to finish. It was filmed in sections like a film then edited as one single performance. "

Understood; andexcuse my failed attempt at sarcasm as I knew all of those logistics as they were announced.

My point is, I bet once this opens the audience reaction will sound a lot like what’s in this recording. This show is insultingly awful."

I chortled. 

 

[cliffordbradshaw2]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:11pm

For anyone who wants to see a live "Diana" curtain call, it's here at 2:18 (following a "Doubtfire" curtain call):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMlc1mxtB-0&t=1s

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 5:36pm

I assume the show is pretty much frozen but I wouldn’t mind if they took another look at the final moments after that last song. I still don’t understand “the people who will change the world are not the ones you think will change the world.”

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 6:16pm

cliffordbradshaw2 said: "For anyone who wants to see a live "Diana" curtain call, it's here at 2:18 (following a "Doubtfire" curtain call):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMlc1mxtB-0&t=1s"

Thank you!  This was a moment they should have included in the Netflix film.  Even without audience applause it’s always a nice addition to any live performance film.  

[Showhopper2]

Posted: 10/4/21 at 11:07pm

Interesting read

Updated On: 10/4/21 at 11:07 PM

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:07am

What is interesting is how closely it tracks the review in The Express so much so that I went to check if it was same reviewer which itbis not.

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:43am

I find all this "Diana would have enjoyed it" absolute lunacy.   Why would anyone like a musical that turns her  life into a bland but garish coloring book?   She loved "Phantom" for its elegance, its style, lushness and genuine romance.   This musical has none of that.   And she would hated the music.   She had taste. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:51am

I usually try to find something good in even musicals that I don’t like, but this was really hard to get through. Not a fan.

Can’t imagine it staying open on Broadway now that you can just watch it at home.

[latitudex1]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 2:28am

Well.

Huh.

To quote the late, great Aretha Franklin: "Great gowns. Beautiful gowns."

And anything Judy Kaye did could be edited into its own, very good 30 minute show. It was a... choice... to give one specific supporting character the most memorable melodies and the best production numbers, but Kaye was very much up to the task.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 2:39am

Read the Reviews for Diana: The Musical on Netflix

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 10:58am

Finally sitting down to watch this and… oof. I still don’t get the releasing it before it even starts previews but thankful they did, so I don’t waste any money on this.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 11:30am

Although there are some things about it that I genuinely like, I'm obsessed with the show for its unintended camp value, and I can't wait to hear my favorite ridiculous lyrics and cringey dialogue live. I had absolutely no intention of seeing it before I watched it on Netflix, but, now, I can't imagine not seeing it. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 11:41am

This will be watched repeatedly by classes on musical theatre writing. I can envision an entire semester learning experience based on nothing else. 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:03pm

OK, I went in with the lowest of expectations, and I didn't hate it. It certainly isn't the best piece of musical theatre ever written, but it is also not the worst. I dare say that I would probably even watch it again.

Erin Davie made the show for me. I loved to hate her. While I don't feel that anyone actually brought any real pathos to any of their characters, Erin Davie came the closest. There was something in her performance that just got me.

Judy Kaye doesn't really capture any of the Queen's personality, but I did really enjoy An Officer's Wife. There really wasn't much for Kaye to do in the show, and after having seen her as Mrs. Lovet, I feel that this was mostly a waste of her as an actress.

The score might be tepid, and the lyrics pedestrian, but the show still looked and sounded good; the costumes are a highlight. I don't really think it deserves all of the derision it's been receiving, and if you are stuck at home with nothing better to do, it's an almost enjoyable way to kill a couple hours on a rainy day.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:08pm

I would genuinely like to understand why some people feel so personally offended by this show. I understand it could have been written and executed better, but it seems like the very idea of a Princess Diana musical is so offensive to some they were determined to hate it before they even saw it. There is an upcoming movie and previous movies and documentaries that did not receive this level of vitriol. I don’t understand that. We of course have Evita and countless other bio musicals with tragic endings that people did not take this level of offense to. I’m attributing it to the emotional aspect involved here in that Diana still has great emotional pull for people all over the world. That didn’t really exist for Evita at least not for British and American audiences. If there is something else beyond that and the unpolished writing, I would be curious to understand more.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 12:15pm

Or maybe we watched it and couldn't see any entertainment or artistic value in it. 

And to clarify; I find MOST people here keep an open mind and readily agree when their initial considerations were off base.

Updated On: 10/5/21 at 12:15 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 1:26pm

HogansHero said: "This will be watched repeatedly by classes on musical theatre writing. I can envision an entire semester learningexperience based on nothing else."

The class will be named Musical Theatre Writing: Don't Let This Happen To You.

[Andrea1232]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 2:25pm

dramamama611 said: "Or maybe we watched it and couldn't see any entertainment or artisticvalue in it.

And to clarify; I find MOST people here keep an open mind and readily agree when their initial considerations were off base."

MOST? Very funny! :-P That's a good laugh! 

 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 10/5/21 at 2:39pm

dramamama611 said: "Or maybe we watched it and couldn't see any entertainment or artisticvalue in it.

And to clarify; I find MOST people here keep an open mind and readily agree when their initial considerations were off base."

The main thing that I've been considering after seeing it is that there is something that almost works in its use of comedy and camp. I love the idea of a Diana musical capitalizing on the juicy tabloid side and then turning around and saying "well, you were entertained, weren't you?" after she's killed by the paparazzi, because that's just as pertinent today as it was then. In that regards, it could come closer to Evita's sudden turn at the very end, when her corpse is stolen and the audience is left with just the universal hush of death after a provocative, lively evening.

On the other hand, Evita has consistency (and quality) - you're always aware of where the show stands, particularly with regards to Evita's relationship between the performative and the diagetic, mostly in the sense that we are highly conscious of how Evita, the character in the story, views and manipulates media attention because of how the show presents itself. Diana's brief glimpses of a similar (psuedo-)Brechtian trick feel accidental and fleeting, so it wavers weirdly back and forth.

The end of the first act is a perfect example. Dramatically, it's fine, even if the lyrics are pretty flimsy, like "the stories girls are taught to believe are not the stories that a girl should believe" (why not taught to/ought to?). But you also have the image of Diana's car being pulped in a tunnel lingering over the whole evening, so when the first act goes out on a triumphant slam of her wearing a sexy dress, it's kind of like...what?

It's those inconsistencies that pushed the whole show over for me, though even if they fixed those tonal issues, you would still have the lousy lyrics to deal with (that cello recital song will haunt me).

[cliffordbradshaw2]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 3:34pm

What appears to be the first review from a NY newspaper drama critic:

https://nypost.com/2021/10/06/diana-the-musical-is-the-legendary-flop-broadway-deserves/

How on earth do they expect to start Broadway previews on Nov. 2 when the show has already been deemed a laugh-riot disaster --or worse-- by significant critics?

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 7:43pm

cliffordbradshaw2 said: "What appears to be the first review from a NY newspaper drama critic:

https://nypost.com/2021/10/06/diana-the-musical-is-the-legendary-flop-broadway-deserves/

How on earth do they expect to start Broadway previews on Nov. 2 when the show has already been deemed a laugh-riot disaster --or worse--by significant critics?"

contracts?

 

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 8:17pm

It would take a new...everything to make this show work at this point. But I do wonder if they'll make any text changes during previews or if they've deemed it frozen now that it's recorded and been distributed

[starcatchers]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 10:55pm

I really, REALLY wanted to like this...

I was very, very wrong. I have not cringed that hard in a very long time. It made Memphis feel like Richard III in comparison.