Diana – A New Musical, telling the story if the life of Princess Diana, opened on Broadway on 2 March 2020 and played for just ten days before all New York theatres were closed down due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The production is currently suspended until September 6, 2020 but as we have seen in the UK, estimated dates are subject to change and no one really knows when theatres in the West End and on Broadway will be able to reopen effectively.
In a controversial move, it has been announced that the show will be filmed on stage, with no audience, and released on Netflix, before the show reopens on Broadway.
There has always been a debate about whether filming theatrical productions and releasing them to the public whilst the show is still open as a stage show is beneficial or detrimental to the production. Some people think that if people can watch a show at home for a fraction of the price of a theatre ticket, that it will stop people from buying tickets to see the production live from the actual theatre. But then there are others who say if people watch a musical on television and fall in love with the show or concept of live theatre, it will encourage them to buy more theatre tickets or visit the particular show to see it live on stage.
There is also the question of accessibility and making filmed theatre productions available to those who may not be able to get to the major cities to see a show or have disabilities that stop them from doing so.
Diana the Musical will be a great way to test these theories and I am excited to see the results!
