Princess Diana Broadway musical will premiere on Netflix
'Diana' was set to open in March before being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By Will Stroude
An upcoming Broadway musical about the life of Princess Diana will premiere on Netflix ahead of its stage run, producers have annoucned.
Diana, which was originally set to open on Broadway in March before being delayed until May 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will arrive on Netflix early next year.
The show will be filmed at New York’s Longacre Theatre without an audience, Vanity Fair reports.
“We speak for the entire company when we say that we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able share our show with theater lovers everywhere,” lead producers Beth Williams, Frank Marshall, and the Araca Group said in a joint press statement.
“Though there is no substitute for the live theater, we are honored to be a part of the quality entertainment that Netflix provides its subscribers worldwide.”
The unprecedented move comes after smash Broadway musical Hamilton landed on Disney+ last month, and Disney revealed that upcoming blockbuster Mulan would go straight to the streaming service as cinemas-goers stay home amid the pandemic.
Billed as the story of a woman who “chose to be fearless, and as a result became timeless”, Diana stars Jeanna de Waal as Diana, Roe Hartrampf as Prince Charles, Erin Davie as Camilla Parker Bowles, and two-time Tony winner Judy Kaye as Queen Elizabeth II.
The stage show will chart the life of the late royal during the course of her relationship with Prince Charles throughout the 1980s and beyond, and features music by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, who previously won two Tony Awards for his work on Broadway musical Memphis.
Diana, Princess of Wales established a strong bond with the LGBTQ before her tragic death in a Paris car accident in 1997, famously shaking hands with AIDS patients without gloves – generating headlines around the world in the process – as she helped break down the stigma surrounding the virus.
In 2017, her son, Prince Harry, accepted an Attitude Award on her behalf at the Attitude Awards honouring her groundbreaking HIV and AIDS activism.
In his speech, the Duke of Sussex paid tribute to his late mother’s sense of social justice, saying: “She felt a responsiblity to shine her spotlght on the people and issues that were often ignored.
“She knew that the misunderstanding of this relatively new disease was creating a dangeorus situation when mixed with homophobia.”