Lady Diana’s tragic life has been reinterpreted and retold countless times, and she herself has become an icon in pop culture. Even her death remains shrouded in mystery, and in the past two years, the movie industry has been even more interested in portraying the late princess’ story on the silver screen, starting with Netflix’s The Crown depicting Charles and Diana’s doomed marriage in their fourth season. Perhaps the raving reviews and the fact that the season gathered more viewers than the royal couple’s actual wedding inspired other directors to create their own adaptations of the former royal: Spencer, directed by Pablo Larrain and starring Kristen Stewart, is set to be released in theatres later this year.
However, a much more bizarre yet surprisingly forgettable project has been released recently, Diana: The Musical. The recorded performance of the live show was uploaded on Netflix on the 1st of October, 2021, but has not received the audience it had expected, and the few people who did see the musical have left abysmal reviews and scores on Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, and IMDb. The musical simply does not feel appropriate; although Diana has been depicted in the media several times now without issue, reducing Diana’s romantic problems to lines such as “serves me right for marrying a Scorpio” is a bit disturbing from a musical that doesn’t present itself as a satire or parody.
The plot is predictable and doesn’t attempt to present Diana’s life from a new perspective, and the songs are barely memorable. The actors are doing all they can to convey emotions with such a trite script, and the stage set is remarkable considering this was produced in Covid times, but this is not enough to make this musical worth watching at all. Perhaps the most questionable aspect of the project is the concept of the musical itself. Musicals of dead historical characters are quite common and popular, such as Hamilton, The Greatest Showman or Evita. However, since Princess Diana’s death is still fresh in the general culture’s memory and her children are still personally affected by it, an overly dramatized depiction of her lowest points in her marriage just feels disrespectful.
While biopics of beloved members of the cultural consciousness do not always appear to be made in bad taste, in a year when the British royal family’s family old and fresh drama has already been shoved down the general public’s throats enough, this musical simply comes off as an unnecessary cash grab meant to exploit the renewed interest in Princess Diana’s life.
Sources:
Clark, Travis. “Data Suggests Netflix’s ‘the Crown’ Season 4 Is by Far Its Most Popular Yet, and It Could Get Even Bigger as the Series Approaches the Present Day.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 Nov. 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-the-crown-season-4-is-biggest-yet-demand-data-2020-11.