![\"Not](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/diana2.jpg\")
\u201cDiana\u201d portrays all of this, but focuses on how she reinvented herself by committing her time to charitable causes, thus bypassing the royal connection and coming into her own as an international force for good before that horrifying 1997 crash in Paris. She was one of few people who visited AIDS victims early in that crisis, even hugging and shaking hands with them barehanded.<\/p>\n
To this, Charles sniffed \u201cPeople are talking about your excessive devotion to ghoulish causes\u201d \u2013 which only made Diana all the more determined.<\/p>\n
The play skips around rather more than seems necessary, and even includes romance novelist (and Diana favorite) Barbara Cartland for no apparent reason, though she is played with amusing relish by Judy Kaye, all fluffy in pink. Kaye is also excellent as the more matter-of-fact Queen Elizabeth, exuding all due sniffiness and lack of charm.<\/p>\n
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The show has a Broadway look, with lots of set changes and bright lighting that shines out into the audience. Ian Eisendrath\u2019s nine-member orchestra acquits itself well on the \u201980s-inspired songs, and choreographer Kelly Devine provides energy galore with some athletic dance numbers for a large ensemble. Natasha Katz\u2019s lighting and Gareth Owen\u2019s sound design shine especially in these numbers.<\/p>\n
Jeanna de Waal is terrific as Diana \u2013 beautiful, charming, and as warm and personable as Charles (an excellent Roe Hartrampf) is cold and distant.<\/p>\n
Erin Davie plays the unattractive role of Camilla with as much style as can be managed (especially in the ultimate boxing match face-off scene with Diana to the song \u201cThe Show\u201d).<\/p>\n
William Ivey Long\u2019s costumes are marvelous, especially the sexy one late in the show when Diana sings \u201cThe Dress.\u201d Here, she has finally abandoned royalty and come into her own, symbolized by the words \u201cf-xxx-it\u201d inserted between the title words.<\/p>\n DiPietro and Bryan, who won Tonys for the music of \u201cMemphis,\u201d have given \u201cDiana\u201d a mostly jaunty, upbeat, \u201980s-inflected score that serves the choreography well but is less effective for the narrative. The lyrics of the fast songs (and that\u2019s at least 80 percent of the score) are often unintelligible, and many of them sound alike. Perhaps they\u2019d be better understood as dialogue.<\/p>\n \u201cDiana\u201d is a certified draw, attested by the fact that this show has been extended twice and it\u2019s only in its first week. With a few tweaks in the music, this committed cast can give this show a long life.<\/p>\n![\"Not](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/diana3.jpg\")