DIANA - Netflix musical -- a new camp classic?

It makes Springtime for Hitler look like The Crucible.

Entertainment weekly seems to agree...

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I loved this one..."made me wonder if I was on acid..."

Maybe the Broadway producers could sell acid seats.

It’s not made for Netflix. It’s a live recording of the Broadway show that Netflix bought rights to, the way Disney bought rights to Hamilton.

I actually bought tickets to it for November but returned them a few weeks ago because I knew it was gonna be a mess lmao

I had a friend who saw it in previews on Broadway before COVID and he said it was one of the worst nights of theatre of his life. And he saw the original "Fiddler."

You know she does voice overs?

The only reason Lucy didn't do it was Gary talked her out of it.

Lucy?

I wish this was being broadcast live and we were chatting about it in real-time as it happened.

This Charles is quite an upgrade lookswise.

The wig doesn’t look right, maybe the part is to far to the center maybe? Seems like that would have been an easy thing to get right.

How is Barbara Cartland not being played by a drag Queen, such a lost opportunity.

Is it me, or are they singing to the back of the balcony? The songs seem so indistinguishable from each other? I kind of wish it was a jukebox musical of songs from her era, imagine Camilla and her singing “I Know Him So Well.”

For that matter, how is [italic]The Queen[/italic] not being played by a drag queen?

If the producers had any sort of intelligence they would have cast Scott Thompson. Every gay man in the US, UK, and Canada would pay to see it.

Very Bridge and Tunnel.

I’m kind of getting nervous that there will be a big number about her hugging an AIDS victim, maybe as the first act closer?

Why do they keep calling her a “Gull?”

What!!! No tumble down the stairs pregnant? I feel cheated!

Two children within four minutes? And no trip to Australia?

I thought it was tasteless when they interpolated Tunnel of Love from Side Show in the last scene.

Has the queen been wearing the same outfit the whole show?

Looking forward to seeing James Hewitt, I hope they cast someone gorgeous.

This could use a little more Next to Normal.

She’s coming off very Jan with her constant Camila! Camila! Camila!

[quote]The lines of dialogue only get more deathless from there on in. Taken by the pompous and stuffy Charles to a cello recital by Mstislav Rostropovich, Diana sings: [bold]“The Russian plays on and on / Like an endless telethon / How I wish he were Elton John!”[/bold]

[quote]My own personal nervous breakdown approached when Diana’s second child is born, and she sings the following lines into his cot: [bold]“Harry, my ginger-haired son / You’ll always be second to none!”[/bold] And I succumbed to complete gibbering collapse when Charles erupts in rage at Diana’s on-stage dance routine with Wayne Sleep, demanding changes to her behaviour: [bold]“How about for a start / Don’t act like a TART … Diana!”[/bold]

I am so in for this. It sounds like the royal "Showgirls."

Fuck the shows. The reviews are brilliant.

They wanted Prince Harry to play James Hewett but Meghan told him it would a cheap publicity stunt and they weren't that broke yet. She didn't rule out a road company.

I tried to watch it and got an error message.

Shirtless Hewitt humping Cartland, I’m here for it!

This beat me to the punch way too much, the writer must be gay.

The rhyme of British and skittish though…

[quote]I tried to watch it and got an error message.

Critics.

"You'll dismount satisfied!" -- James Hewitt

Ugh, fell asleep and woke to the credits. Did it have a happy ending?

This is so awful. All the songs sound like a really bad rock band.

And this Diana isn't shy at all--she's smug and extroverted.

[quote]Did it have a happy ending?

Yes. In this version she survives the car crash and then leaps on James Hewitt's cock for all eternity.

Do young people even know what flashbulbs are?

Why do the paparazzi in this all dress like Matt Drudge pretending to be Dick Tracy?

I posted about this 11 hours ago and it was crickets…which surprised me.

Anyway, as I said, the costumes were well done and I liked the actress who played Sarah Spencer, but the music was horribly dated. There wasn’t a single good song…not one.

You had a bad title, r41.

The title should announce what you're discussing: it should not be an attempt to be clever or to start the discussion.

I thought it was going to be about my free concert in Central Park- climaxed by a thunderstorm.

Yeah, really R41. You tried to define the next epoch, we just wanna chat about a shitty musical.

Your cunt smells, R41.

Is she shown singing as she ascends into Heaven during the finale, like Marguerite in Gounod's Faust?

R46 No, it’s more like Grizabella going to the Heavyside Layer with flashbulbs going off.

The should open the show with the car crash and then tell the story as a flashback back up to the car crash again. The Bonnie and Clyde musical did something like that.

Always open with a bang!

The eleven o'clock number should be called "That Means Her Face Got It."

Jesus Christ that "James Hewett" song!

Is her I want song “Make Me a Princess?”

Well, it was no Evita that’s for sure.

I’m halfway through it and it truly can’t be overstated how execrable it is.

So is it “so bad it’s good” or just regular bad?

R54 Everyone is so earnest and the relentless rhymes (Camilla/Manila/Godzilla!) are next-level ridiculous. I laughed out loud several times. It would be a crime not to watch it.

Charles and Camilla/ They made me feel so silly/ I was a young shy virgin/ and now I'm binging and purgin/ They all treat me like a worthless toy/ I should find a hot playboy/ Elton John says I'm an inspiration/ But I must appreciate my station ( In life)......

When I was pregnant I threw myself down the stairs/ only to find that no one cares/ I went ahead and fired the entire staff/ They should feel this poor girls wrath/ I call my lovers wife in the middle of the night/ this shy Di is itching for a fight...

I wasn't expecting panto, but dear God! It's just basic and boring. The lead had this strong, way too empowered body language that didn't fit the vulnerable Diana who gets kicked around by the Royals and the press.

This makes me actually appreciate Kristen Stewart's performance as fragile and demure Diana. Fuck, does that mean the world is going to end?

She gets into that Mercedes for her final drive through Paris and the orchestra starts playing "The Theme From Mahogany". So moving.

Having the Queen be such a bitch seemed a mistake. Who believes that?

Don't know why this song got cut from the score.

When actors are in things like that, do they know how awful it is? Do they just think they're grateful to get work, or are they embarrassed? Do they think during rehearsals, "Well, I know it's shit, but maybe the audience will enjoy it"?

I loved it. Wil watch over and over while taking bong hits. A true camp classic. I hope it runs forever.

Jeanna de Waal has a good stage presence and voice, and really deserves better.

I'm only in the first act, but I'm assuming Charles has a "I Want to Be Your Tampon!" as a the eleven o'clock number.

Did they interpolate this Michael Jackson classic somewhere?

Every song sounds exactly the same. The music is almost as bad as Billy Eliot. It also seems far longer than it really is per the clock.

At least the actors playing Camilla and James Hewitt have nice voices.

I'm assuming the Queen (the real one) has taken note of the British actors in the cast and had their passports canceled, leaving them stateless.

For a musical called Diana it was awfully Camilla heavy.

R60 the same people who believe that Diana was a helpless paper bag blowing in the wind, lacking control in anything and everything that happened to her.

Now this is a camp event we can all get behind!

I shamefully admit I do kind of like the final song.

I feel like people are piling on when they imply the whole musical is a disaster. Yes, the songs were horrible (I genuinely can't remember remotely enjoying even one of them). However, all the actors have good voices, the costumes were well done, and the sets/direction were high quality. Unfortunately, a musical with shitty music is a crime against humanity.

Am I the only one who enjoyed Sarah Spencer?

The real Diana would have loved this.

[quote]The real Diana would have loved this.

I bet that's true. I mean, the "I Want" song is all about her joyously singing about being free.

This is actually entertaining. The lyrics are beyond belief. They make Frozen seem like T.S. Eliot.

Maybe not an apt comparison because T.S. Eliot + musical = Cats.

I saw "Diana, The Musical" when it first opened at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego a couple of years ago. It was known then that the show was heading to Broadway. Part of the problem with the show (other than a lot) is that we know every bit of information about Diana and Charles. There's nothing new.

I see a lot of theatre, and I'm also a huge Diana fan. However, the show is really meant for those Diana diehard fans or those who don't really follow the British royal family, who might find a musical about the monarchy somewhat fun. I sort of liked the show because I like Diana; however, it was so obvious watching the show that it was going to get savaged by the critics. It may end up being an audience favorite as the buses roll in from New Jersey and surrounding states. But the show is kind of schlock. The show is not horrible, but the critics are right to slam it. Diana deserves so much more.

The real Diana wouldn't have gotten near this kind of shit. She never went to similar West End schlock -- metropolis, Mutiny!, Chess...

The stunned silence from the audience after every song ends really speaks for itself.

I'm at the AIDS hospital number and don't think I can continue today.

Really great campy movies are unintentionally funny.

I have a feeling that everyone involved in this project knew how bad it was and decided that - the the end - a check is a check.

I see endless cruise ship stagings of this musical in the future.

So these poor fuckers have been dragging this show for years knowing it was this bad and didn’t manage to make any improvements or get the part in her wig right?

r81 has clearly never been a part of developing a Broadway musical...It's a brutal, strange process, and there are more mistakes than successes.

[quote]And its all weirdly rock n roll gay.

I think you mean rock n roll queer!

Diana actually probably would've loved this. The music is so dated it could've easily been an Andrew Lloyd Weber production from the 80s. And she loved that shit.

The New York Times hasn't reviewed it yet. Are they waiting for the Broadway review?

Just watched. Jesus. Makes "margueritaville" look like "My Fair Lady."

The 11 O clock Number:

Oh how I loathe Camilla, She's chocolate, I'm boring vanilla With her, Charles is a sexual gorilla I cry myself to sleep on my pilla

My marriage is over, but still a Hope lingers. I feel ugly as Phyllis Diller. I upchuck my lunch -- what a spiller! My life's now a horror thriller.

I’m not going to watch it. You watch it.

[quote]"margueritaville"

Oh, DEAR.

I’m really sad that they couldn’t get Billy Joel to lend them “Uptown Girl” for the dance and Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind: English Rose Version” (or what ever the hell it’s called) for the end.

Before he dies, (by the way did he ever pull through that emergency surgery??) Elton John will hopefully write his version of the Diana musical, and it will include drag queens. Taron Edgerton, or how ever you spell his name, can be adult Harry seeing it all in flashback.

The set and lights were good.

The choreography was the worst I think I’ve ever seen.

It’s almost in the echelon of The Best Bad Musicals Ever, like “Bernadette, the Musical” (musical version of The Song of Bernadette), which I ncluded the immortal lyrics of Bernadette chastising the local constabulary: “Oh, please, Monsieur! You’re standing on the Holy Mother’s bush!”

They could put this on in one of those theaters in Las Vegas and it would play for years.

[quote]The stunned silence from the audience after every song ends really speaks for itself.

There was no audience at the recording.

Theater audiences today applaud anything. It would even get a standing O at the end.

Not if I was there, R96!

So, Neil Patrick Harris is in this?

[quote] So, Neil Patrick Harris is in this?

Yes, he plays Princess Anne.

[quote] However, all the actors have good voices, the costumes were well done,

Not all of them. Unless you somehow believe paparazzi in the 80s and 90s really wore trench coats and fedoras--that was jaw-droppingly stupid.

I know what this reminds me of, the faux Marilyn Monroe musical in the TV show “Smash,” even the stage craft seems to be arrested to that era.

They should have just rejiggered ABBA songs into this, it would have played forever.

The set reminded me of the wall Olivia Newton-John danced off of in Xanadu.

So, is it true that Barbara Cartland and the Queen have never been seen in the same place at the same time?

The James Hewitt song was atrocious, but he was very good looking and had a really good voice.

Just finished -- well, 1/2 through first part. I couldn't take it. This makes no sense. Who thought this was a good idea?

Welcome to 21st century Broadway, r106.

Interesting that the major New York press isn't reviewing this.

I loved this one but the recording doesn’t do it justice. The live version from the show was powerful and mean.

This review is quite delicious in its eviseration!

That is total bullshit from McNulty; If you go read his review from the show at LaJolla, he gave it a gentle pass. The review was good enough they could continue to Broadway.

I’m cracking up at these theater singers trying to get down with all the rock melismas and failing.

Jeanna de Waal is very good but she is so fundamentally miscast. Shy and fragile is exactly what she's not--she's too assured and powerful to be believable as Diana.

I'm sad that Judy Kaye also seems so miscast. She was such a superb (even definitive) Lily Garland in "OTTC" and so memorable as Carlotta in "POTO," but she can't do an English accent well, and neither role of Barbara Cartland nor the Queen is well suited by her abilities. Her Queen is pretty much a blank--Machiavellian but without emotion.

The two who are terrific are Erin Davie (far too pretty to play Camilla, but a good voice and a fine actress) and Gareth Keegan (great body and great voice as James Hewitt). We'll see more of them in other shows down the line. Keegan is an especially good find because he's so hot--he holds the camera even in close-up.

The show itself is so terrible, with all the super-obvious rhymes, and all the songs that sound so exactly alike and are so unmemorable. Diana is written as this schemer who marries Charles pretending to like classical music when she really hates it (we're supposed to think Charles is a monster for preferring classical music to pop), and then we're supposed to feel constantly sorry for her. One thing I thought "The Crown" got right is that Diana was incredibly unrealistic and naive, so while you could feel sorry for her you also constantly felt she made many of her own problems.

[quote]Jeanna de Waal is very good but she is so fundamentally miscast. Shy and fragile is exactly what she's not--she's too assured and powerful to be believable as Diana.

She was Chris when they revived Carrie ten years ago. Now THAT? That she's perfect for.

I don’t remember this outfit. Loved her but she really was a bit of an attention you-know-what.

But Diana was assured and powerful.

The head of the Boston Book Festival was quite the badass in the story. She shut Larson and friends DOWN.

Sigh wrong thread sorry

I wonder if Harry and Meghan are invited to opening night.

Diana was powerful, but she wasn't assured. She was a neurotic mess--although it's understandable since she never knew who she could trust.

Oh, what a circus, oh, what a show!

I wonder if the show will even open now. It's scheduled to open on November 17th, but all the bad buzz might kill the show.

How could it open? It's beyond awful. It's so awful it isn't even funny.

Worst marketing misstep in a long time.

I really needed the crying and hysterical sorrow of Evita, where the cast brings bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals up to the gates at the end with it rising higher and higher while Elton John sings Candle in the Wind:English Rose Edition or what ever it’s called.

God help me, I’ve become addicted to that last song and I’m watching it on heavy rotation tearing up each time!

There realy is no help for you.

The Hate Watching is now official.

The songs ranked!

When NPR is making fun of you...

I've got it on in the background. It *looks* good enough. If only the book and music had been better. I actually like seeing Diana played like a bubbly, confident extrovert, which she was.

I'm now enjoying the James Hewitt number. This thing is growing on me a little, so help me.

Charles: "Say the word and I'll stop it NOW ... "

Camilla: "But the girl, she's quite a WOW ... "

All the songs have that same greeting-card level of rhyme schemes.

The cast is clearly talented, though almost all of them are miscast (Judy Kaye looks more like Ann Landers than Queen Elizabeth). But the music, lyrics, and choreography are torture.

Is this still planned to be a Broadway opening, or are the producers folding their tents and skulking off in the night?

Oh, and "Diana" looks more like Hillary Clinton during Bill's first presidential campaign than she does Di.

Diana the musical is scheduled to open on Broadway in November (it played a week or two of previews before Covid shut everything down) but after the reactions to the filmed version on Netflix, there are rumors it may be cancelled. No one knows at this point.

Poor Roe Hartrampf (who plays Charles).

Hot body, but he's never going to happen.

Netflix didn't sponsor or finance the video version. They just picked up the broadcast rights to the video version the producers of the show had made after out of town tryouts when the future of the production was unsure because of Covid. As said above, it is scheduled to open on Broadway this fall after some pre-Covid Broadway previews last year but now nobody knows.

I think it will open and flop but who knows?

How comes half the cast has Dutch sounding names?

[quote]God help me, I’ve become addicted to that last song and I’m watching it on heavy rotation tearing up each time!

I can't say that I'm either addicted or watching it in heavy rotation, but I do think it's a decent "I Want" song. They did a concert version to promote the show about two years ago (since it was to open in a few months), and, whatever else, de Waals nailed it.

Two things about the song, why would she want to go back to standing in lines again? And if she’d been a steel magnolia instead of an English rose, would she have survived the car accident?

I like how de Waals seems to be climbing octaves in the song, building tension, but when she gets to the top she sounds great, she doesn’t go all The Voice or Mariah Carey on it.

How does one begin to shed her royal skin?

Christ. Who wrote this, Meghan?

[quote]Poor Roe Hartrampf (who plays Charles). Hot body, but he's never going to happen.

He's more than welcome to happen over here by me.

[quote]How does one begin to shed her royal skin?

Some of the lyrics are quite stupid, but I do like some of them too.

r137 is smoking something. Netflix completely paid for all aspects of the shoot. It was shot in the theatre last fall, 6 months into the COVID crisis. The show had been in previews, and the producers knew they were in trouble on Broadway. Netflix was a desperate move to build audiences for the show because they assumed they were going to get killed by the theatre critics. They didn't foresee this debacle. But they will open. They need the SVOG money.

I always thought this should have been given an Emmy for best comedy special. Mary Testa and Daniel Fish talking about Wokelahoma.

what has that got to do with Diana, r146?

OMG, I just watched the James Hewitt scene....scroll to 1:02. James Hewitt - let's do it!

Is this show really going to open?

It's still scheduled to open on Broadway in November, r149, but after the reactions to the Netflix version, there's lots of speculation it won't. Nobody knows yet.

Do suburban women from Westchester County and Long Island like this sort of thing? Because that's who largely supports Broadway.

If Roe Hartrampf needs money after this closes, I have a few jobs he can do around my house.

Actually, he's straight, so he can just sit there and I'll do all the work.