DIANA at La Jolla Playhouse
You don’t need a passport to take in the drama of theEnglish royal family, you just need to go to the La Jolla Playhouse to seeDIANA. Extended through April 14th,you can let the musical melodrama sweep you away into a story of monarchs,marriages, and one not so happily ever after that turns one woman into one ofthe world’s most famous English roses.
No matter your age, Diana Spencer is a name that most peopleknow. In 1981 she became thequintessential “fairytale bride”” as she went from nineteen year old assistantkindergarten teacher to married to the Prince of Wales and achieved worldwidefame for it. Turns out that fairytale didn’t have the usual ending and thismusical follows the journey of Diana growing up and finding her voice and placein the world.
Personal problems aside, Diana was known for wieldingfashion to make a statement- starting with that famous wedding dress whichcoincidentally opens the show. The costumedesigner William Ivey Long brings this and many other beloved outfits of Diana’sto life in gorgeous costumes for the leading lady. With approximately 32different looks for Diana alone it is a beautiful trip down memory lane of thefashion of the 1980’s as well as a wonderful visual of how this young girlblossomed into a powerful woman.
The first act races through the whirlwind courtship andmarriage of Diana (Jeanna De Waal) and Prince Charles (Roe Hartrampf), withsome strategic encouragement from the Queen (Judy Kaye), and Charles’ “good friend”Camilla (Erin Davie). As Diana navigatesthrough motherhood, dodging the paparazzi (who have a number wearing trench coats that make them seem morelike flashers than reporters), and trying to save her marriage, she finallydecides to use her fame and fashion to her benefit.
De Waal has a good voice for the pop score and makes thejourney from shy young girl to self-assured woman feel totally natural. Hartrampf is the Charles the real Charleswishes he was, with some killer runs in the songs, and seeming more personablethan the actual Charles could ever manage. Davie is cool and logical as a Camilla who knows how the game is played,and Kaye makes a warm and very proper Queen.
This new musical by Joe Dipietro and David Bryan, with directionby Christopher Ashley has a wholly American energy, aesthetic, and approach tothis very English institution and story.
As everyone knows, all roses have thorns and all British Aristocratsare the villains in American entertainment; this holds true here as well. As Diana’s meek English rose persona growsinto one with some sharpness and bite, the British aristocracy gets their kicksmocking her .
The show does attempt to tell the story of the other people impacted by this relationship but in trying to present all sides evenly, it ends up feeling unfocused. So much time speeds by and many things get touched upon but no real depths are revealed about Diana, Charles, or their marriage.
The only thing the show does know and oft repeats is that Dianawas a “pretty girl in a pretty dress.” Her only power and value is derived fromher being a woman in connection to a man- whether that is her husband and hisbelief everything she did was purely in defiance of his will, the sons she hasand how they impacted her desire to stay married, or the confidence sheacquires when she has an affair with a handsome soldier. Overall, this show could have benefited fromgetting some notes from the female perspective when working on the story.
Diana’s actual moments of defiance and accomplishments areraced through. From the first act montage of stepping out in couture fashion tomake a statement, and even worse reduces her numerable charitable accomplishments to a recited list inthe final minutes of the show, robbing her actual deeds of any examination, power,or impact.
Besides a moving scene in the AIDS ward of a hospital (eventhen presented as an act of defiance to her husband and the royal protocol),the things Diana pursued are put on the back burner in respect to her contentiouspersonal life and how much she is upsetting the order of things.
She became the hero of her own story by finding her voiceand using her privilege and status to help those who were being overlooked. That isan infinitely more compelling story than the very well documented fact that hermarriage was “a bit crowded.”
As gossip sites and soap operas can attest it doesn’t meansit will lack in popularity. Under the guise of plumbing the emotional depths ofa complex marriage the show instead finds entertainment by turning Diana into “Dynasty.”
DIANA is playing at the La Jolla Playhouse through April 14th. For ticket and show time information go to www.lajollaplayhouse.org
Photo credit: Jeanna deWall as “Diana” and Roe Hartrampf as “Prince Charles” (with Tomas Matos as thephotographer) in La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere musical DIANA, book andlyrics by Joe DiPietro, music and lyrics by David Bryan, directed by PlayhouseArtistic Director Christopher Ashley; photo by Little Fang.