Review Roundup: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Opens in London

The Devil Wears Prada, a new musical, based on the blockbuster film and bestselling novel, has strutted into London’s Dominion Theatre.

Featuring an original score by music legend, Tony, Grammy and Academy Award winner Elton John, lyrics by singer-songwriter Shaina Taub, book by Kate Wetherhead with direction & choreography by three-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell.

What did the critics think?

Photo Credit: Matt Crockett

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: Musically is where the show really stumbles. A day after viewing, I was struggling to recall a single melody. The production is distinctly lacking in memorable tunes or truly witty lines. There are also too many tracks shoe-horned into an already busy production. "House of Miranda" explores the identity of Miranda and the magazine. The staging and choreography is slick, but the song itself lacks impact. Act 1 closer, "The Devil Wears Prada", performed at the ball, has an oddly country-inflected chorus and fails to sum up the glitz or excitement of the event.

Miriam Sallon, WhatsOnStage: The problem with reinterpreting a film like The Devil Wears Prada for stage is that they already hit the best marks the first time: how do you beat a power team of Streep, Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt? Well, you have to offer an entirely fresh take. Unfortunately, despite having Elton John on staff, the tunes are mostly lacklustre and the script in between is just a regurgitation of the film’s best-known lines. The title number, which one would presume would be the big catchy standard, sounds like a Christmas charity song, and there are way too many slow power ballads.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian : Miranda rises from below the stage, as if from an underworld, and is too flat a devil, Williams channelling her Ugly Betty character’s vibes. Her famous “cerulean” speech, which cuts through Andy’s snobbish attitude towards fashion, is not felt for its sharp intelligence. Buckland’s Andy has little personality, Amy Di Bartolomeo’s snippy assistant, Emily, sounds as if she is channelling Emily Blunt’s voice from the film, and Andy’s boyfriend, Nate (Rhys Whitfield), is too much of a cypher to care about, although his voice has strains of John’s in songs like I Mean Business and The Old You.

Alice Saville, The Independent: Tim Hatley’s set design frames the stage with arches of neon tubing that flash during John’s surprisingly unmemorable, generically jazzy musical numbers; perhaps to distract from Mitchell’s choreography, which mostly involves the chorus pointing in different directions, like air hostesses doing a safety briefing or the Spice Girls on an off day. Unlike Victoria Beckham, this musical theatre-trained cast is surely capable of more.

Martin Robinson, The Standard: Amy Di Bartolomeo (formerly one of the queens in Six) goes at the role like a racehorse out of the gate. Her big number, Bon Voyage, is typical of the knowing humour of Mitchell’s production: a homage to Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, with Emily in a wheelchair, surrounded by blue-scrubbed male nurses, having run into traffic after being demoted at Miranda’s annual ball. (Buckland’s Andy, initially given a makeover that makes her look like Lorraine Kelly, sashays into this event in a clingy sheath dress like Pippa Middleton stealing her sister’s wedding.)

Tim Bano, The Stage: Applause greets Williams as she rises through a trapdoor, and she suits the part, not least because she played such a similar one in Ugly Betty. But there’s a strange gentleness to her performance – a straining for the depth and detail that Meryl Streep brings to the film role – that doesn’t work on such a huge stage. It’s an interesting way of playing it: you’re never quite sure whether her comments, all delivered in a quiet-ish deadpan, are kind or cutting. But it could do with more ice.

Clive Davis, The Times: The main problem, inevitably, is that if you’ve seen the screen version of Lauren Weisberger’s novel, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could match Meryl Streep’s gloriously icy performance as magazine editor Miranda Priestly. As anyone who saw her in Ugly Betty knows, Vanessa Williams — who plays Miranda here — can turn on the hauteur. She’s an accomplished singer too, yet you’re still left with the impression that you’re looking at a photocopy of a Technicolor original.

Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph: Style as well as (some) substance is required here, and you’d think that’d be here in abundance given that Elton John has written the music. But it’s as if the trendsetter who gave us Billy Elliot and The Lion King – not to mention some of the finest pop songs of our era – has couriered over some generic material and everyone has followed suit (the bland lyrics are by Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick).

Average Rating: 50.0%