Two years after preparing the musical, the Bavarian born, Britain-raised child of a South African father was now just starting previews. Diana at the Longacre Theater when their Broadway run was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (The show had its world premiere 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 told Theater Mania at a cast event in February 2020, “and she met her fairy-tale prince, who was called Charles. Unbeknownst, however, was that he also had a girlfriend named Camilla. This is how the story unfolded.
De Waal is 6 inches shorter than Diana, at 5-foot-10. 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.
De Waal joked to the audience, “When you try to portray a sad moment at home, nursing a baby or something similar, people shouldn’t think, ‘She looks in stripper shoes’.” New Yorker In 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 remains worth telling. De Waal called it a dream role and told Broadway Inbound that she believes the reasons people will be interested in seeing her performance. DianaThis is because she remains such an integral part of our zeitgeist as well as a significant part of our awareness. She is a part of our zeitgeist and awareness, so we should all celebrate her.
Diana This is being retorted for Broadway or Netflix in 2021.