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The Devil Wears Prada - THE MUSICAL?! | Everything we know about the 2024 West End show
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- [00:00]
Jerry Mitchell
Oh my God. Hey, Jerry Mitchell here. And I'm bringing the Devil Wears Prada to Dominion Theatre in the fall of 2024. So gird your roins.
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Mickey Jo
Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my stagey YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. And this is my YouTube channel where I talk about what's going on with the West End and Broadway. I review the shows that I've been invited to see and I cover news and drama. And today we're going to be talking about a brand new musical adaptation of the Devil Wears Prada which which is coming to the west end in 2024, as you just heard from legendary Tony Award winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell. So there's a lot to discuss about this piece of news. Even though I may have been told that this was coming a few months ago and also its composer, Sir Elton John has been a little loose lipped about it in the press, this is still something of a bombshell announcement. And immediately I have two very different reactions to this because there's a part of me that's like a new musical adaptation of a 2000s film looking for commercial success in the West End. Groundbreaking. And yet there's another part of me that's also like omg, I actually love the Devil Wears Prada and I feel like this could be really fun. And there is also the matter of the premiere production which had a tryout run in Chicago that it seems like they don't want to acknowledge but definitely happened because it didn't go particularly well. We're going to discuss that as well as what we already know about this show, the very, very, very exciting casting rumor that is making the rounds of the Internet, and some little exclusive details that I found out at the show's press launch, all in today's video. So Buck, gird your loins as they say. Now, before I tell you everything that we know so far, what do you think about a Devil Wears Prada musical adaptation? Is this a great idea you're really excited about or are you yawning at another film to stage adaptation? Let us know. And while you're at it, make sure you're subscribed. If you enjoyed today's video, click on the link down below to get some early and exclusive content here on my channel. And I hope you enjoy. Let's talk about the incoming Devil Wears Prada the Musical. So it's Friday today. On Wednesday of this week, I was invited to the main in Mayfair to get this little presentation of a mystery show. But based on who the producer was, who was attached to it, and who the director was, who was attached to it, we got the sense that it was going to be an announcement about the Devil Wears Prada, which is very exciting. So this is being Produced by Kevin McCollum and Jamie Wilson, who has recently produced Doubtfire, the musical in the West End, as well as Ain't Too Proud and Sister Act. And while we don't have any casting information for the show yet, the other really big component of this announcement was its new director, Jerry Mitchell. Jerry Mitchell, who was recently awarded a special Tony Award for his work with Broadway Bears, and whose as a director, you may also know from Legally Blonde and Pretty Woman, which immediately tells us he has a strong history with musical adaptations of iconic films. Now, the schedule of all of this that has been revealed is a little bit interesting because prior to opening at the Dominion Theater, which we will discuss at the very end of 2024, the Devil Wears Prada musical is going to get a tryout run in Plymouth in July. This is a little bit unusual, and not because it's having a pre West End run. I think that's a really valuable and smart decision, especially for something that is in a developmental stage, which we'll talk about more. But for Doubtfire, the musical, which shared the same producers, they went to Manchester and there was a little bit of confusion with the local press there who didn't understand why they weren't being invited to review the show during its Manchester run. In the same vein, the PR team attached did not invite reviewers from London to go and travel to Manchester to see the show's run because they were working on it prior to opening in the West End. And at the time that they opened in the West End, that's when they wanted people to come and review. So while the producers spoke very enthusiastically about the Theatre Royal Plymouth, and I have no doubt that it's an amazing space, a part of me wonders if they're looking for somewhere a little bit more secluded where they think they can escape the harsh eye of criticism while they really work on this show, because it is being reworked in ways that we will discuss more in this video. The Plymouth run is also a conspicuously long time before the West End press schedule, which is happening, I believe, in early December. The Plymouth run is in July. This gives them an awful lot of time to really work on this. So that says to me that they're gonna be doing a lot of work. Now, when it does reach London, it's opening at the Dominion Theatre. This is a huge barn of a theater. We haven't really had an extended run in this space since the Prince of Egypt, which understandably was a vast and epic musical with a large cast and an expansive set and a glorious Stephen Schwartz score. In the time since, we have had limited runs of hugely commercially appealing musicals like Dirty Dancing and Grease and Elf. In fact, we've had a repeat of that exact programming from one year to the next. This is going to change a little bit next year, but we're still having lim. The King and I is going to be going in after Elf's next Christmas stint, which is about to be happening, after which there will be a summer run of another of Jamie Wilson's productions, Sister act, starring Beverly Knight and Alexandra Burke, who are sharing the role of Dolores Van Cartier, after which we will be getting the Devil Wears Prada at the venue. Now, the reason why there hasn't been an extended run of one musical in this time is because the Dominion Theatre is huge. It's massive. It's just this really intimidatingly large space. But producer Jamie Wilson doesn't seem to be intimidated by these large theaters. He recently produced Sister act at the Eventum Apollo, which is not really a traditional theatre space. It's a gig venue. And it's also enormous. That was a huge success comparatively. His transfer of Ain't Too Proud to the Prince Edward Theatre, another of the West End's largest houses, did have to close a little bit early. Now, there are some people that were surprised this show was going to the Dominion. If I had to pick the perfect theater for this musical, I would have anticipated it would go to the Savoy. Not just because that's where two of Jerry Mitchell's former shows have run in London, Legally Blonde and Pretty Woman, but also because the Savoy Theatre, which is attached to the luxury Savoy Hotel, does tend to succeed when it has these sort of classy and elegant and fashionable and luxurious shows. And yet, if we're using fashion as this marketing tool, the Dominion is not the worst situated theatre for this show. It's at the end of Oxford street, which contains a great many of London's biggest stores. So that perhaps is something they'll be able to capitalize on. In any case, to be able to sell this kind of a venue. And they're going to need a big production and they're also going to need some very big casting. I'll remind you, there is one very exciting casting rumor I'm going to tell you about later in today's video. First of all, Let me tell you what Jerry Mitchell did reveal at this little press launch. So he spoke a lot about his love of the original film, about this excitement around Miranda as a character. He described it as a Faustian tale where Miranda literally is the devil. And the protagonist, Andy, who was Anne Hathaway's character in the film, has to decide whether or not to sell her soul. And at this point, if I wasn't already convinced that Jerry Mitchell was the right kind of a director for this project, then this really did the job of selling me. On his attachment to this, I will also add that he said that for him, the music is always the most important component. And I agree that when you're putting together a musical, that is the most important thing. But at the same time, there was a voice in the back of my head thinking, you know, I did see Pretty Woman. So there's that. He sung the praises of all of the writers involved, of Shayna Taub and Sir Elton John and Kate Weatherhead, who he has this long relationship with. If you don't know. Kate Weatherhead, who is the book writer for this show, was also in the original Broadway cast of Legally Blonde. She was Chutney, the girl with the perm, and also the girl at the beginning with the gum who was like, even if they do what you want, sweetheart, is no easy thing. If you're going to swing and it will wreck your senior spring, I could be here for a very long time, honestly. Joey also talked about his brand new creative team, which includes costume designer Greg Barnes and set designer Tim Hatley. In fact, during the presentation, he shouted to Tim about how he wanted to make sure there was a catwalk involved for a Runway situation. He spoke a lot about fashion and this show's relationship to fashion and his own relationship to fashion and what that meant to the piece. Now, at this point, there are a lot of exciting names attached to this project. I'm sure many people will be excited just by the idea. But there was also this lingering elephant in the room the entire time, which was the show's ill fated tryout production in Chicago last year. And as much as they didn't seem to want to address the fact that this wasn't a world premiere and the show had already been staged before with a very poor reception. We are going to talk about it. So while it wasn't overtly stated in Joe Mitchell's initial presentation, rumors had already been circulating online that this production had had a almost full rewrite since the ill fated Chicago tryout. This was a production back in 2022, with the same producers attached, which was directed by Tony Aw Anna D. Shapiro and starred Beth Leavel and Taylor Iman Jones in the leading roles. And while the show, which is coming to London, is retaining the same writers, albeit with a completely new creative team led by director Jerry Mitchell, it was beginning to sound as though this was actually going to be new material. Jerry talked about having heard demos of Elton John's songs and being very excited about them. This is where he mentioned that the music was the most important thing. And that seemed to imply that these were going to be new songs. Because if this score had already been heard in the Chicago production, then he wouldn't need to be talking about demo recordings that only he had heard. And truthfully enough, after his presentation to the whole room, he spoke to smaller groups of people, at which point somebody else asked him whether this was going to be a completely new production and he sort of quietly said yes. So without any details on exactly how much is being rewritten, it is implied that this is going to be a fully rewritten version of the Devil Wears Prada, which for various reasons doesn't surprise me. Now, I am deeply curious about exactly who is brave enough to sit down music legend Sir Elton John and tell him he has to completely rewrite a score he's already written because it's not good enough. But maybe that person was Jerry Mitchell, because he said that he had been working on it with Elton. In fact, the tidbits he shared in that conversation seemed to indicate that he was trying to get Elton John to give it more of an Elton John kind of a sound. Not all of his scores really sound like his own music. His recent work on the musical Tammy Faye didn't sound too much particularly like Elton John songs. But in one anecdote, Geri shared that he wanted Andy and her boyfriend to have a song that sounded a little like Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Another detail I knew about the Chicago production was that it had updated the story to a modern day setting. Now, it's tricky with these film to stage adaptations where the musical is being put together so much later than the film came out. And you think, was that a culturally significant enough time that we have to keep it within that time period? Legally Blonde is a great example of this. When you're staging the musical of Legally Blonde, do you do it in 2022, 2023, like the recent Regent's Park Open Air Theatre did with the TikTok stands and everything, or do you keep it within the specific year that the film was set so Chicago Devil Wears Prada, from what I understand, updated the story to a modern day setting. And when I had the chance to ask a question of Jerry Mitchell, I asked him whether this production would be doing the same and he said no. His plan was to set it sometime between when the film was set and when the book was set, simply because he said this would make it easier to depict Miranda's deplorable behavior. Miranda being Miranda Priestley, who, if you don't know, is the ruthless fashion magazine editor who was played in the film, of course by Meryl Streep. Which brings us to the rumours about this production's casting. I've made you wait long enough, let me tell you who is rumoured to be playing Miranda and stepping into Meryl's shoes in the West End. So the name that everyone has been hearing for this is musical theatre icon Hannah Waddingham, which makes me so unbelievably excited because I think she's one of the greatest performers of all time. When she was doing back to back shows in the West End, I went to see them all. I saw her in into the woods and the wizard of Oz and Soho Cinders and Kiss Me Kate. I think she's absolutely sensational and this would be a fantastic role for her. She has such power and presence. She's statuesque and glamorous and authoritative. We've seen her play heartbreaking vulnerability on Ted Lasso. We've seen her play intimidating and terrifying as the shame n Game of Thrones. And theatre fans know that she is an outrageously talented stage performer with an audacious vocal talent. Needless to say, I think she would be fantastic as Miranda Priestley and it would be hugely exciting to have her back on a stage and have that be a West End stage. She is an international star now, after all, and a big part of me was worried we were going to lose her forever to Broadway. So I desperately hope that these rumors are true. But she is not the only character in this musical. Who would we want to see in these other roles now, even though she's not the lead, I think the next most exciting person to talk about after Miranda Priestly is Emily Blunt's character. She is sarcastic and British and hilarious. And the name that's at the forefront of my mind is the wonderfully talented ZZ Strallen. ZZ came to mind for this because after the press launch, Aaron and I were sat in a coffee shop going backwards and forwards talking about who might be able to play this role. Certainly someone who is very funny and dryly sarcastic. Names like Amy Atkinson were being thrown around. And I was trying to think about who would be able to get that sync kind of a voice right, that same sort of a slightly sarcastic Mary Poppins. At which point I thought of ZZ Stralin. We've seen her play Mary Poppins. We know that she can be prim and proper, but we've seen her in enough other shows that we know she can also be hilarious, deeply sarcastic. I think she would be brilliant. I think she would be wonderful in this particular, potentially scene stealing supporting role. But of course, the other leading character of this musical is going to be Andy, Anne Hathaway's character, this fish out of water in the fashion world. And one of the misgivings I still have about this film is that Anne Hathaway in this role is treated as though she does not belong in this fashion world because of the way that she looks. They act as though she's a completely different size to what she is. And I think it would be really much more valuable if with the stage casting of this, we were to cast someone who has actually experienced barriers to sort of these traditional Western beauty standards, rather than casting someone tall and gorgeous and skinny in a complete Hollywood beauty and then gaslighting the audience by telling them that she's fat and ugly. I just think this would be a great opportunity for a lot of the performers who aren't traditionally seen for these leading lady castings, when other than the very recent Regent's park revival, shows like Legally Blonde and shows like Pretty Woman have only cast a certain type of white actress. And also, there's so little that this character really specifically has to be. You know, she's charming and endearing and relatable. Those are three important qualities of her. But other than that, Andy can really be anyone. She could be a Georgina Onwara. She could be a Grace Moat. Really. There's a huge list of performers who I think you could consider for this role. Comment your suggestions down below. Who do you think we should have in the Anne Hathaway role and in all of these roles? The enduring positive thing I keep hearing about the Chicago production is that Javier Munoz was terrific, I believe, in the Stanley Tucci role. I'm guessing Javier, who is an alumnus of Lin Manuel Miranda musicals like Hamilton and In the Heights, apparently was deeply moving in this role. So if there is a way for him to still be involved and be in the West End production, that would be fantastic for London audiences to get to see his work. Admittedly, I don't know how much of his material will remain the same from that production. We don't know if some of it is changing or if the whole thing is changing. It sort of sounds like it's going to be the latter. Which brings me to the really important question for do I think that this is going to be a good show? So there's certainly evidence to the contrary. The reception that this had in Chicago was really not particularly positive. And when there were rumblings that this was about to be announced for the West End, I did see some US pundits saying it would have to have a total rewrite to be any good. Well, it seems like a total rewrite might be pending. And call me optimistic, but I do have faith in all of the people involved. I think Jerry Mitchell is absolutely the right director to be attached to this project. We want that Legally Blonde kind of a flavor. Legally Blonde remains the good name of film to stage adaptations. And even though he's called this a Faustian tale, you know, his direction is going to be fun and colorful and campy. Greg Barnes is a brilliant costume designer. Tim Hatley a fantastic set designer. Bruno Poet is doing the lighting. There are brilliant names attached to this. And even though their first version of the show clearly wasn't the one, I do still think that these are great writers for this project. Kate Weatherhead is someone I have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for. As well as having been an actress on stage, she was also one of the co writers with Andrew Keenan Bolger of Submissions Only, this brilliant Internet series all about casting. She has this wonderful caustic wit, which I think is a great match for this script. Shana Taub is another really exciting emerging creative force in the theatre. And Sir Elton John a legend in the music industry. I don't think every single score he recently written for the theatre has been as wonderful as all of his work. Stuff like Aida and the Lion King I think is great. His recent work on Tammy Faye, I thought he just lost a little bit of his own personality. I just wanted more Elton, honestly. And I wanted the strength that usually comes with his really winning melodies. If he can capture more of his own sound with the Devil Wears Prada, if Jerry Mitchell can drag that out of him, I think that would be brilliant. I think we need something that sounds more like the Bitch's Back, the song that he wrote for Tina Turner. Furthermore, if the Hannah Waddingham rumor is true, this would constitute her first major return to the stage after becoming this huge, huge global megastar, she commands an enormous amount of popularity. I found this out recently when I got to be an audience member to her hugely oversubscribed Christmas concert taping at the London Coliseum, which I can't tell you any more about because it was a secret. A secret which is going to be aired on TV later this year. But if she is involved, her team would not be signing off on this if it was not improved from the Chicago run, because they will know that that was not a successful production and they would not be letting her make this big stage return with something that is going to be a critical flop. She's also appeared in enough productions that I think she's an incredibly discerning actress as well. So if she thinks this is a good vehicle for her, I'm excited about it. Honestly, my greatest hope for this is that it's just campy and fun. If we're setting it back in that time when the film was set, we get to be a little bit more nostalgic about all of it. And I think fashion is more fun when you're being nostalgic anyway. It's more fun to look at fashion from bygone eras than it is to look at contemporary stuff. That's what I think anyway. But there's got to be a fun and light hearted and sassy musical adaptation of the Devil Wears Prada for this team to find. And if they want to work out how to inject some silliness into the whole thing, then they should go and check out the recordings of the unauthorized Devil Wears Prada musical parody that Marla Mendel was a part of prior to her success with Titanique. She played Emily Blunt's character, and in the scene where she gets hit by a car, she then sang Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball while wearing a neck brace and bouncing on top of an exercise ball. Like this kind of ridiculousness. And I'm not saying that's what this version of the Dominion should be, but one little teaspoon of that might be helpful. Ultimately, directors can make a really big difference to the trajectory of a show and to how all the material comes together, and I'm hoping that this one little change in ingredients might make the overall recipe of this piece a lot more delicious. Did we all make it through that extended metaphor? Good. But those have been my thoughts about the Devil Wears Prada musical, which is coming to the Dominion Theater next year. For updates about this as we approach the opening of this production and its Plymouth tryout, make sure you're subscribed to my channel. I will be telling you everything that I know as I find it out. Also, stay tuned for many more reviews of other shows coming soon and my tripod back to Broadway. I'm going to be heading back to New York in a couple of weeks to see as many shows as possible. So if you want to see many reviews of shows in London and New York, make sure you're subscribed. I hope that you enjoy today's video and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.