After two years of preparation, the Bavarian born, Britain-raised, South African-raised, daughter of an English mother and father was just starting previews of the musical after two years.Dianaat the Longacre Theater when their Broadway run was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (The show had its own version of the COVID-19 pandemic. Premiere in the world at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in March 2019.)
“So, this show is about this once-upon-a-time princess called Diana,” De Waal Theater Mania toldA cast event was held in February 2020. “and she met her fairy-tale prince, who was called Charles. But unbeknownst to her, he had a love on the side who was called Camilla. And the story is the workings of that relationship in a very public spotlight and what came to pass.”
De Waal, 6 inches shorter that Diana’s 5-foot-10 stature, reads Andrew Morton‘s 1992 biography of the Princess of Wales and spent hours studying YouTube videos to get her voice and mannerisms, including her finishing-school-caliber posture, just right.
“When you’re trying to portray a painful moment at home, or nursing a baby, you don’t want people to be, like, ‘She looks like she’s in stripper heels,'”De Waal joked to the New YorkerIn early 2020. As to what she observed watching the princess in action in old video footage, the actress noted, “She’s fighting, she’s surviving, but she’s doing those things with her shoulders completely relaxed, and smiling for the cameras.”
De Waal was asked why Diana’s story is still worth telling. She answered, “It’s a good story.” “dream role,”Broadway Inbound was told, “I think the reason people will want to seeDiana is because she’s still such a huge part of our zeitgeist and a part of our awareness. And I think we want to celebrate her.”
DianaThis is being re-headed to Broadway and Netflix for 2021.