Saturday, December 14, 2024

Broadway’s Royal Flush: “Diana” Musical, Postponed from this Season, Will Air on Netflix Before May 2021 Opening

Share

Things could not be stranger now on Broadway.

With the season demolished, and no Tony Awards, and no fall season, producers are trying to gauge when the Great Bright Way will re-open next year.

Some shows have posted previews for March 2021, with April opening nights. They assume theaters will be ready for customers. Also, the assumption is that April 30th or so will be the 2021 Tony Awards cut off, and that the Tony’s will happen in June.

Scott Rudin– who’s in a lot of trouble with a $6.3 million lawsuit over unpaid for ads– decided to skip the Tony deadline and open “The Music Man” in late May. Of course, since part of that lawsuit is over “Music Man” ads, who knows if that show will even come to fruition?

Now the great producer Frank Marshall and his team have decided to open their musical about Princess Diana on May 25, 2021. But before he does that, Marshall will film “Diana: The Musical” a la “Hamilton” and show it on Netflix before the stage production begins previews.

This is unheard of.  In a joint statement, the “Diana” producers said, “We speak for the entire company when we say that we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able share our show with theater lovers everywhere. Though there is no substitute for the live theater, we are honored to be a part of the quality entertainment that Netflix provides its subscribers worldwide.”

This is a big gamble. What if “Diana” stinks? If it gets bad reviews on Netflix, that will kill the Broadway audience. But I think producers are signalling that this will now be a summer run, no Tonys expenditure, and let the show either catch on or close by Labor Day.

Marshall knows what he’s doing. Steven Spielberg’s long time movie producer, he last tried his hand with the Jimmy Buffet musical “Margaritaville” in 2018. (It wasn’t a success.) He has nothing to lose, really, but plenty to gain with a long investment in “Diana.” And Netflix needs the content.

Is this the beginning of a trend for musicals? Not yet. They’ll wait and see how Marshall’s gambit pays off.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

Read more

In Other News