Your assist helps us to inform the story
From reproductive rights to local weather change to Huge Tech, The Impartial is on the bottom when the story is creating. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a lightweight on the American girls preventing for reproductive rights, we all know how essential it’s to parse out the information from the messaging.
At such a crucial second in US historical past, we’d like reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to each side of the story.
The Impartial is trusted by People throughout your complete political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information shops, we select to not lock People out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We consider high quality journalism needs to be out there to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
Your assist makes all of the distinction.
The West Finish is awash with films-turned-musicals, with the outcomes starting from the fashionable (Dr Strangelove, Stranger Issues, My Neighbour Totoro) to the irredeemably naff (Fairly Lady, we’re taking a look at you). You’d hope that enlisting Elton John to jot down the songs would assure any musical entry into the previous class however, alas, The Satan Wears Prada is actually diabolical.
It’s not the fault of star Vanessa Williams, who turns in a good efficiency as fictional journal editor Miranda Priestly – appearing with a subtlety that her fearsome red-and-black costumes lack. As a substitute, it’s a results of an absence of creativeness from the entire writing group, who cling to the 2006 movie’s script like a millennial clings to stretch denim denims (they’re extra cozy, OK?). Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s manufacturing feels much less like an ironic touch upon the Noughties, than it does a time capsule from again then – albeit one the place groundwater has seeped in and made every thing a bit limp and soggy.
The story’s your basic “peculiar lady makes it huge and forgets what actually issues” narrative, with aspiring journalist Andy (Georgie Buckland) getting sucked into the world of vampiric boss Priestly. The place Williams is all demure self-possession, Buckland brings a formidable however typically grating power to the function of her previously frumpy assistant; her voice is so punchy it threatens to knock out the entrance row. As a pair, they don’t have a lot chemistry – nor do Andy and her boyfriend Nate. Within the movie, he’s an underwritten delicate boy who’s unimpressed by his girlfriend’s profession ambitions. Right here, extra writing and thought have gone into his character – too unhealthy none of it is smart. As Nate, floppy-haired Rhys Whitfield gamely powers his approach by love track – “I solely need you to your physique” is likely one of the catchiest numbers on Elton John’s rating – but it surely feels prefer it was written for a special present, provided that this charmer purports to desire his girlfriend when she’s carrying shapeless skirts and gnome sneakers.
Tim Hatley’s set design frames the stage with arches of neon tubing that flash throughout John’s surprisingly unmemorable, generically jazzy musical numbers; maybe to distract from Mitchell’s choreography, which largely includes the refrain pointing in numerous instructions, like air hostesses doing a security briefing or the Spice Women on an off day. Not like Victoria Beckham, this musical theatre-trained solid is definitely able to extra.
There are moments when the entire manufacturing pulls collectively to create one thing resembling the excitement, slickness and glamour of the style world. The primary act closes on a model of the Met Gala that’s obtained a compelling darkish glitter to it, with costume designer Gregg Barnes dressing ornate creatures that shine out of the gloom like cockroaches. When the sound design permits itself to undertake the attribute pounding digital soundtrack of the Noughties catwalk, stomping like a mannequin’s spike-heeled stiletto, it briefly makes the period’s tradition appear thrilling and harmful once more. However whereas a brand new era is obsessive about Y2K type, this manufacturing showcases its ugly tail-end somewhat than its heyday, with enterprise informal silhouettes and fussy tailor-made attire that really feel extra suited to a House Counties bridesmaid line-up than a trend journal.
The Satan Wears Prada film was fascinating as a result of it blew an unique, secretive world vast open. It let peculiar girls peer into the lives of the journal editors who instructed them they have been too fats, too mundane, too frumpy to be a part of their world, all of the whereas promoting it to them as a part of a shiny bundle on each newsstand. This musical feels squarely aimed on the mass market, and it’s neither aspirational nor memorable sufficient to flee the sale rack.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is on at London’s Dominion Theatre until 31 May 2025
