Di Lady Di at Sierra Madre Playhouse

The title Di Lady Di refers of course to Lady Diana Spencer, the teenaged bride of the future monarch of the United Kingdom who would go on to become one of the most famous and admired women in the world.

The narrative begins when Diana is still a girl. Her family is torn apart by divorce, and she is separated from her mother. Born into a noble family, she is accorded the title of Lady. Blonde, beautiful, and a virgin at nineteen, she attracts the attention of the Prince of Wales who, a decade her senior, is under pressure to marry and generate heirs to secure the royal line. He had been dating her older sister.

Diana marries the Prince, and does her duty by birthing two sons. The Prince rewards her love with betrayal. He has a mistress.

His unfaithfulness sends her into a spiral of depression and she is ultimately granted a divorce.

She refuses to remain a victim, however. She is prominent as an activist for a variety of humanitarian causes, notable among them advocacy for AIDS patients and a push for the abolition of land mines. She becomes the public’s favorite Royal and regains her own agency as The People’s Princess.

Even death cannot erase her personal triumph.

Di Lady Di is a musical, with a song score of twenty-three selections, with intelligent lyrics.

Charlotte Munson is the show’s star, and also crafted the show’s book, music and lyrics. Music by Richard Munson. Presented by Sierra Madre Playhouse.