THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Musical - News & Discussion Thread — Page 5

Three's Company said: "lol, I literally made an account just to add my two cents but now I'm worried I'll be clocked as a shill too!

Either way, if this poster was invited to final dress they clearly have some connection, obviously they're going into it with a positive POV. To say they're being paid feels a little conspiratorial to me. People do actually talk like that– it seems like some folks on this thread really want to not like this show. I'm optimistic and I hope it's camp. I'm eagerly awaiting the reports of y'all in Chicago"


yeah it’s the older members of the boards thinking they’re always right and it’s not someone who saw the show, not being involved in any way, they’re obviously someone connected *insert BIG eye roll here*. And the older members are NEVER wrong, or judgmental, or anything. If someone joins during the early run of the show, they HAVE to be right if they say it’s because the person is somehow involved. Please. Post your thoughts. Ignore those people. They don’t care about anything except being right.

TaffyDavenport said: "Shill or not, I take invited dress and even some first preview reactions with a grain of salt. Same with early social media reactions from movie premieres. A lot of people get swept up in the energy and excitement, and aren't able to be objective with their critiques."

Good. Remember the people who posted raves after that first Funny Girl performance? And remember the shills after The Cher Show had its first Chicago preview?

gleek4114 said: "Azúcar! said: "TaffyDavenport said: "Shill or not, I take invited dress and even some first preview reactions with a grain of salt. Same with early social media reactions from movie premieres. A lot of people get swept up in the energy and excitement, and aren't able to be objective with their critiques."

Good. Remember the people who posted raves after that first Funny Girl performance? And remember the shills after The Cher Show had its first Chicago preview?"

To be fair, The Cher Show in Chicago was a lot different (and somewhat better) than what ended up on broadway."

Agree a lot with this, but the first Chicago preview was not what actually ran in Chicago eventually. That first preview was messy...

I will be there and will report first impressions - though I never buy merch so don't pay much attention/visit the booths, so it might not be as detailed on that front. Also, I agree, there was A LOT to like about The Cher Show in Chicago - before they turned it into a Broadway amusement park ride.

Anyone who posts on Instagram that they’re at the Nederlander tonight will have their posts show up here, then go to Recents.

Updated On: 7/19/22 at 07:55 PM

Updated On: 3/3/23 at 11:55 PM

A complete lobotomy of an evening. I will never get the time back.
Many thoughts to post. Still processing.

Merchandise and intermission curtain



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Updated On: 7/20/22 at 12:24 AM

Marlothom said: "This show needs a lot of work. The reason the movie worked so well was that at some point they realized that a story about Andie, fresh out of water girl in NYC, trying to make it in NYC as a writer and struggling, was simply not going to keep audiences interested. So, they expanded Miranda’s storyline (maybe because they had Merryl Friggin’ Streep), gave her a house, a family, a life, which made her and the overall story, more interesting. They fail to do so here (even though they have Beth Frigging Level).

None. I repeat. None of Andie’s story outside of Runway works. Her relationship w her bf lacks any chemistry, stakes, passion, anything. Their scenes are painful, full stop. One of the friends is non-binary or maybe trans, for whatever reason, and that also goes nowhere. I think they need to make her life outside of Runway about her relationship w her roommate, Kayla, expand on that and try to make it interesting.

Similarly, the character of Emily loses all of the magic from the movie that made you root for her, even though she was such a flawed character. Here you can’t make out anything she says in her Act 1 one song. Or any of her lines. Act 1 ends with Andie telling Emily she isn’t going to Paris and I didn’t give a f—k. I saw her on the Mean Girls Tour and I think she needs to be more Regina ans less Gretchen. She has a fun number as the act 2 opener and then we never see her again till the end of the show.

Miranda’s fashion needs to be ELEVATED. Fashion. I have no doubt some of those suits or dresses are from major labels (?) but you can’t tell that from the audience. They read as plain and boring. In the movie coats and that genius white hair did a lot of the work. Here, in a plain red wig and nice dresses, it just doesn’t have the same impact.


Finally, some of the best songs (Title song, dress you up?) are sung by the ensemble, so you can’t make sense of anything they are saying. I had to think if the title song!!! was one of the songs I had heard on social media. Beth sings a little bit of The Devil Wears Prada at the very end of the show (!) and finally it comes to life! Give here more songs!!! And the dress you up song needs to be take up at least a full step. I’m pretty sure Javier can handle it. It’s too low and gets lost w all of the chorus singing along. It’s like if My Strongest Suit was an ensemble song."

I agree with so much of this. Miranda’s looks weren’t striking enough, and she needs her role expanded. The boyfriend and Andy had no chemistry. And I was also reminded of My Strongest Suit, and it made me wish I was watching Aida instead.

I'm afraid I have to agree with the initial reviews here. Why do I keep getting my hopes up when we get a world premiere musical, and then we get something like this? I was actually having flashbacks to the premiere of Pretty Woman. And this is after they were granted an additional 2 years to work on the show.

As noted, the story is muddled. I couldn't understand half of what was going on, partly due to missing 25% of the dialogue and lyrics from the horrible acoustics. The first act seemed to both rush and drag. At intermission, I thought why doesn't Beth Leavel have anything to sing?? She has one solo 10 o'clock number in act two, but she is seriously underused and her character underdeveloped.

I was confused about the time period for the show. It's clear that it's been set in modern day, since there are a few current references, such as to Zendaya, but the plot points about how important this print media operation is just seem dated. Also, it's a minor point, but the projections and proscenium have borders resembling old Kodak film strips, which I'm pretty sure are obsolete these days with digital photography.

The show opens with an odd dance number featuring the half naked ensemble, men and women, all in red heels. Hmm. That was followed by the 'Here I am in New York to start my exciting career' song, which was followed in the office by the 'Here comes Miranda, she'll be here soon, get ready, she'll be walking in any second' song. And I knew we were not off to a unique or creative start.

Yes, the boyfriend and friends are almost unnecessary and horribly underdeveloped, as is Andie's relationship with them. Act two takes place in Paris. If you didn't get that, there's a large set of the base of the Eiffel Tower that lowers and fills the stage. And then it stays there for almost the entire act, with many scenes taking place under it. I realized it wasn't literal, when two different hotel room scenes took place under it. And if you still didn't get that we were in Paris, there were French sailors, ballerinas, and a mime. Yes, a mime.

The ending was rushed, and I'm not really sure what happened in the plot, again partly due to bad acoustics.

I heard several audience member commenting on the way out that it needs work. I'd like to return late in the run to see if there are improvements. I hope there are, but they would need to be major changes to make a difference.

Updated On: 7/20/22 at 12:47 AM

The show opens with an odd dance number featuring he half naked ensemble, men and women, all in red heels. Hmm. That was followed by the 'Here I am in New York to start my exciting career' song, which was followed in the office by the 'Here comes Miranda, she'll be here soon, get ready, she'll be walking in any second' song. And I knew we were not off to a unique or creative start.


I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT OPENING SEQUENCE? It was the first thing we saw, so I got deep, thinking " wow, everyone is naked, how interesting! maybe they will make a point about how important fashion is . .. or how "fashion" is relative . .. or SOMETHING! There is no payoff to making the cast be nearly naked. Or the sound of the clicking heels!

I LOVE Chicago World Premieres, because every performance you see through the run of the show is different (I saw the Pretty Woman where Vivian closed the jewelry box on Edward!), but this show needs A LOT of work. Debating going back this weekend to see what they've changed.

Updated On: 7/20/22 at 01:23 AM

Miranda Priestly is by far the best character in the movie but how do you make someone who speaks in a whisper and says not much more then “that’s all” sing? I’m so curious. Not every movie needs to be musicalized. I’ll have to wait til NYC for this one. Maybe they can do the work and make this a big fun campy bubblegum show like Mamma Mia.

Bill Snibson said: "Miranda Priestly is by far the best character in the movie but how do you make someone who speaks in a whisper and says not much more then “that’s all” sing? I’m so curious. Not every movie needs to be musicalized. I’ll have to wait til NYC for this one. Maybe they can do the work and make this a big fun campy bubblegum show like Mamma Mia."

What you do, is you give her smarter lyrics than any other character, which maybe end a biting "that's all". They do that on a good number where she is interviewing Andie and READING HER FOR FILTH! And It gave me great hopes for what was to come . . .but then nothing more comes from this character, aside from quotes from the movie. They even have an ensemble member walk in in a floral dress, just so that she can say "florals for Spring? Riveting".. . . and get some polite laughs/applause. For F's sake, this woman can belt! Did no one in this production team see "The Prom"? Miranda is 75% Dee Dee!

Updated On: 7/20/22 at 01:37 AM