Diana: A True Musical Story (Broadway)
Closed 2h 15m
Diana: A True Musical Story (Broadway)
68

Diana: A True Musical Story (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

68%
(234 Ratings)
Positive
63%
Mixed
20%
Negative
17%
Members say
Entertaining, Great singing, Disappointing, Cliched, Fluffy

A new musical about the life and legacy of Princess Diana from the creators of Tony winner "Memphis"

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Show-Score Member Reviews (234)

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192 Reviews | 38 Followers
95
Chic, Refreshing, Campy, Fluffy, Hilarious

See it if you want a great communal experience and a rollicking night at the theater. You’re an Anglophile or a Royal follower.

Don't see it if you take yourself or your theater too seriously. You don’t like the F word.

67 Reviews | 33 Followers
92
Great acting, Great singing, Funny, Entertaining, Clever

See it if you want to have a good time at a Broadway show. Funny, charming, and catchy. Don't miss you on this unique show before it's gone!

Don't see it if you don't want to have a good time. This show is a party.

64 Reviews | 5 Followers
90
Great singing, Clever

See it if It's an interesting show with wonderful costumes. The story is well known to most but nicely told. I enjoyed the lead's voice.

Don't see it if You want absolute truth about Diana. There is an odd aspect about a show based on a tragic but real story.

121 Reviews | 23 Followers
90
Great acting, Enchanting, Delightful, Entertaining

See it if Great acting singing dancing music Like Diana And are interested in a true story

Don't see it if If you dont like musicals and are not interested in Diana

812 Reviews | 132 Followers
87
Great singing, Great staging, Great acting, Entertaining, Delightful

See it if you enjoy a delightful retelling of the tragic story of Charles and Diana. Great staging and costumes with wonderful performances by all.

Don't see it if you don't want to see another story about Charles and Diana or if you are a fan of Camilla. Read more

54 Reviews | 6 Followers
85
Great singing, Indulgent, Fluffy, Entertaining, Funny

See it if It was great fun. Most fun I've had on Broadway this year, if I'm being honest. Didn't take itself too seriously and the company was fab.

Don't see it if You're not a fan of campy musicals. Or you're a Scorpio. Read more

56 Reviews | 9 Followers
85
Thought-provoking, Great singing, Great staging

See it if … you want insight (true or not) into the lives of the UK’s royal family.

Don't see it if … you could care less about the lives of the UK’s royal family.

284 Reviews | 85 Followers
85
Enchanting, Quirky, Great singing, Entertaining

See it if You want to see an incredible performance by Jeanna De Waal. The whole cast was fantastic. Diana’s costumes & quick changes were impressive.

Don't see it if You don’t want to see Diana/Prince Charles/Camilla’s story told through an Evita/The WHO’s Tommy esque score & quick paced storyline.

Critic Reviews (12)

The New York Times
November 17th, 2021

"But if you decide to write a musical about a real woman, known worldwide, who died tragically while still a young mother, something more rigorous is demanded. “Diana,” though, is lazy and thus neither entertaining nor insightful; though audiences talk back to it at will, it’s not even campy fun. It’s just exploitative, doing to the Princess of Wales pretty much what the tabloid press — let alone the monarchy — did to her in the first place."
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Time Out New York
November 17th, 2021

"Diana itself skips over most of its heroine’s very real issues—her eating disorders and suicide attempts are name-checked only briefly—and dwells on the tabloid drama of her Gone with the Windsors romantic entanglements. (“It’s the Thrilla in Manila / But with Diana and Camilla!”) And while it portrays Diana as eager to move beyond the world’s superficial dismissal of her as “a pretty pretty girl in a pretty pretty dress,” it unabashedly elicits applause for costume designer William Ivey Long’s reproductions of her most famous outfits, and gets an early laugh at the expense of Camilla’s appearance. This is shabby stuff, and the laziness of the writing extends to the smallest details."
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New York Theatre Guide
November 16th, 2021

"Besides lacking a compelling point of view to make this familiar tale fresh, the slick musical retread tends to take a campy approach as it chronicles Diana’s tumultuous marriage to the ever-unfaithful Prince Charles. That includes a cameo and commentary by her step-grandmother, romance novelist Barbara Cartland, gushing and gabbing in an explosion of Pepto Bismol pink. Diana’s 11 o’clock ditty about how she’ll “light the world” doesn’t balance the scales."
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Deadline
November 17th, 2021

"Diana is a muddle, its few pleasures coming from Jeanna de Waal’s perfectly acceptable singing, a sly turn by the terrific Erin Davie as Camilla Parker Bowles, some cool dresses and the scattered unintentional humor that had the crowd response at the reviewed performance, complete with a well-timed “f*ck off” aimed at the arrogant Prince Charles, suggesting the musical might be primed for Rocky Horror-level audience engagement."
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Variety
November 17th, 2021

"There is something audacious about this musical’s suggestion that the people’s princess belongs to the people, by way of the popular medium’s basest, bluntest, most blatantly pandering form. Those who’ve watched “Diana” on Netflix, where a filmed version of the stage show was released in October, know it’s unnerving — in the uncanny way of a wax museum come to life, Kool-Aid pulsing through veins instead of blood."
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Lighting & Sound America
November 29th, 2021

“A show that purportedly gives voice to a woman scorned and manipulated gleefully surrenders to its inner Jackie Collins, offering up trashy thrills punctuated with assertive power ballads. Strenuously uplifting one moment and deliriously campy the next, Diana is a musical suffering from poor impulse control. For certain show fans, it will be the season's guilty pleasure; you know who you are.”
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New York Stage Review
November 17th, 2021

"I could cite a number of even more cringe-worthy lyrics, but why bother? In truth, Diana isn’t much more insipid than any number of musical hagiographies that have popped up in recent decades, and director Christopher Ashley, to his credit, guides it with a light hand, having fun with the dishier aspects of the story rather than wallowing in the pathos. "
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New York Stage Review
November 17th, 2021

"It is not good. It is not terrible. It is bloodless, procedural, and, in Christopher Ashley’s staging, constantly, exhaustingly turned up to 11. It lacks nearly any wit, poetry, or sense of fun—except in the few moments when the tone shifts, briefly and inexplicably, to camp."
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