THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA • LONDON
★★★★☆☆
Photo: Matt Crockett
REVIEW THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: DRESSED TO IMPRESS
It had to come: Hollywood blockbuster The Devil Wears Prada has launched as a large-scale musical in London’s West End with Vanessa Williams leading a stellar cast, plenty of production power and music by Elton John.
A large-scale and heavily promoted production that seems to get off to a lukewarm start with uninventive plot development in a skinny set design, causing apprehension to spread in the large Dominion Theatre in London, where almost 2,000 spectators are in a festive mood.
Thankfully, after a somewhat anonymous honky-tonk-influenced opening, Elton delivers a solid dance-rocker in the middle of the first act that really livens things up. After a clumsy start in the fashion world (I’m sure you know the story), Andy finds his groove and pops out as an über-cool executive secretary in leather tights with attitude and the whole ensemble on their toes in glorious costumes.
Great scene and THEN you get the fashion bonanza you were looking for. The applause roars and the prosecco is opened throughout the rows, where relief sets in and the mood rises noticeably. Lauren Weisberger’s bittersweet New York/Paris comedy drama about love, seduction, betrayal and power play in the fashion business just sells tickets. Boom.
Photo: Matt Crockett
There’s no wavering on the stilettos from here. A beautiful and cheeky show from here on, there’s no wavering on the stilettos. A beautiful and sassy show unfolds at high speed with spectacularly staged flashes of fashion extravaganza and ultra-slim supermodels dressed in broad-shouldered production budgets.
The Eiffel Tower in a diamond-glittering Swarowsky version and an insanely beautiful catwalk sequence in the colors of the tricolor is exactly the Parisian cliché you dream of, if you can only see it for haute couture in high heels and long poles in top-geared mass choreographies.
I surrendered to the professionalism (and the prosecco) along the way – but the British press has not been overly impressed.
Elton’s Prosecco-musical is old hat, says one, while others note that Devil, like the musical version of Pretty Woman, is empty musical calories disguised as couples therapy and a soft critique of capitalism, tailor-made for an audience that doesn’t care what the critics think.
Photo: Matt Crockett
Maybe you just remember the 2006 film as better than it was. Maybe it was Meryl Streep’s wonderfully bitchy, Oscar-nominated Miranda charisma opposite Anne Hathaway’s adorable Andy that outshone the sweet, rather thin but also charming love/high fashion/cool business story and fertilized the idea of a musical.
Photo: Matt Crockett
The film grossed $326 million worldwide on a $41 million budget. Maybe that’s reason enough to try a musical version.
Elton John’s ballad-like piano rock has its moments in an expression that ranges from classic power love songs to slightly more disco funky tracks that are not quite Elton’s home turf. It plays, but you miss the catchy hit, the clear melody line and an extra gear from one of the world’s best songwriters when you know what he can do.
American TV star Vanessa Williams was the undisputed darling of the audience and clearly convincing as Meryl Streep/Miranda, while Georgie Buckland delivered a lovely, girlishly fresh and sensitive Anne Hathaway/Andy: seduced by the beautiful surface of the fashion industry until you scratch it.
As the hapless first secretary Emily (played by Emily Blunt in the film), Amy Di Bartolomeo is hilarious and sexy in a golden hospital scene in the strategically important first act after the interval, where an erotic climax is reached around the cot where she lies with a broken leg and is serviced by a platoon of very handsome male nurses. Nurse sex in a woke time is not so bad after all!
The show is dressed to impress, the plot is as thin as a supermodel, the entertainment value is not to be sneezed at, the innovation to be overlooked and the overall impression a little disappointing.
The Devil Wears Prada lands on four stars from GOT TO SEE THIS
