The musical Diana has really defined itself as the Broadway production with the most ambitious pandemic-pivot strategy. The show started performances on March 2 last year, shut down on March 12 alongside the rest of Broadway amid the spread of COVID, and in August announced that it would be taping itself to premiere on Netflix. Today, the producers of Diana revealed that the show will premiere on Netflix on October 1, 2021, and — not to be outdone — that it will resume performances at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway on December 1 and open on December 16.
That plan makes Diana one of the first shows to set a date to return to Broadway. As of right now, Broadway theaters are officially closed through May 2021, though most involved in the industry don’t expect performances to resume in full until September or October of this year, with openings rolling out in waves and some of industry’s flagship shows — e.g., Wicked, The Lion King, Phantom, and Hamilton — leading the charge. By December, Diana will likely be among a sizable number of Broadway productions to be up and running, though that all depends on the variables of vaccine rollouts and the state of the pandemic in general. The concrete result of Diana’s announcement is that tickets are now available for the show through November 20, 2022, allowing it to accumulate some advance sales.
According to a press release, the version of Diana that will premiere on Netflix was filmed in 2020 and directed by Christopher Ashley. It’s led by the Broadway cast, including Jeanna de Waal as Diana, Roe Hartrampf as Prince Charles, Erin Davie as Camilla Parker Bowles, and Judy Kaye as Queen Elizabeth. Since that’s already in the can, if you thought they were going to incorporate any winks at that Meghan Markle Oprah interview, you’re out of luck.