Chicago — from movies to musicals where you want to eat and eat cake, and still fit in the sample size, “devil wears prada,” opened Sunday at the James M. Nederlander Theatre. With music from rock god Elton John and lyrics from Off-Broadway sweetheart Shaina Taub (“Suffs”), it seemed poised to set a trend or two for her. .
The show takes place in a fashion magazine, but its creative team doesn’t seem to agree on the style. A party? An investigation into a toxic work culture, or an excuse to put the Eiffel Tower (technically, two Eiffel Towers) on stage? This is the show that tried everything in the closet. nothing fits.
Her years at Condé Nast, adapted from the 2006 film and adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 Roman a Clef, were directed by recent journalism graduate Andy Sacks (Taylor Iman Jones). Continue. Andy has big dreams. The Big Apple quickly subdues them with “I Mean Business,” the show’s efficient opening. After being turned down for six months, she somehow manages to land a coveted job on the runway (Vogue’s fictional understudy) and work for its overbearing editor, Miranda Priestly (Beth Leavell), in her second year. Worked as second assistant.
Andy is not interested in fashion. She has cable-knit tights to prove it, but she needs a job to pay her rent. (Yes, the musical assumes that entry-level media gigs guarantee financial security. How great.
“My voice can wait,” she tells Miranda. I mean, Joan Didion got her start in Vogue.
The problem is, Andy is not very good at his job. Sure, she lacks the manic perfectionism and bonkers wardrobe of Emily Charlton’s toxic first assistant (Megan Masako Haley, wasted until act two). , she consults the magazine’s creative director, Nigel Owens (Javier Muñoz). He’s wearing a Metropolitan Airlines costume Her collection and coffee Her mug of cliché-inspired power Give her the makeover she desperately needs With her ballad “Dress Your Way Up” increase. That you should dress for the job you want.
But Andy remains vague about his job. And are hot pink rompers and thigh-high boots really an idea for office wear? Ambiguous.The film, with its more sophisticated wardrobe and more substantial visual pleasures, seemed to be a begrudging admiration of the fashion industry as a commercial, as an art. Anna D. Shapiroa serious artist I have nothing to do with glitter and whimsy, I can’t make up my mind.
The song unfolds pleasantly enough with glimmers of glam and bits of wit, but it tends to feel like last season. Choreography by James Alsop follows Broadway slang with a ballroom flair. Of course, there is also voguing. Kate Wetherhead’s book has been updated a few times (with references to her collagen powder), but it doesn’t take perspective. And in a show where an aversion to starch is expressed, the jokes are very corny.
“What should I do?” Andy wails as Miranda approaches.
“Find a better exfoliant first,” says Nigel.
At times, I’ve wondered what writers like Beth Wall, Joslyn Baio, and Halley Pfeiffer who take a bigger, more compelling comic swing have done with this material. A score acknowledging popular music of the past four decades would have made a difference.This version features Jones, a charismatic actress with a lithe and flexible voice, doing nothing but stressing and dithering her never. (she shining) And while magazines like Vogue finally acknowledged the lack of diversity, the musical claimed that all the people abused by Miranda, who is white, were people of color. I never admit to being
The Devil Wears Prada wants to convey a vision of luxury and style. This describes the makeover scene, the gala scene and the Paris fashion week scene. Set and media designers Christine Jones and Brett Banakis are having a blast in Paris. But Andy is a woman with no professional signature, and she seems to feel that her fashion is somehow under her. Even as she came to appreciate couture on her personal level (“Who’s She?”), she never recognized it as something substantial, and she took the opportunity to write about it. refuse. Despite having so many women on the creative team, it remains a flirtatious, unserious, girl thing, giving the musical a tinge of anti-feminism.
The show’s female characters don’t hold each other up until near the finale, and the sketches of Andy’s two roommates (Christiana Cole and Tiffany Mann) are so thin I didn’t even know their names. They still make time to judge her. It’s not as good as it looks.
Of course, that brings us all to Miranda. In the film, Meryl Streep played Miranda with the sleek silver hair and liquid nitrogen-like voice — the ice queen who sinks the Titanic. But Leavell is an actress with a sense of humor and warmth, a talent she uses as a self-parody arch in “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “The Prom.” Miranda should shake her men in Louboutin boots. Everyone is pretty tall here.
Did Weatherhead’s book melt Miranda, or did Revel not have the frost it needed? Both, really. The musical presents her with her late confession, “Stay On Top.” Because if you have a voice like Leavell, of course you should show it off. But Miranda isn’t made for introspection. Anyway, “Stay On Top” doesn’t offer much.
Strangely enough, the character the musical most fully represents is not Andy or the spiteful Miranda, but the cucumber-cool Nigel. In addition to “Dress Your Way Up”, the musical’s best of his number, he also performs the second act, “Seen”. This is a poignant song about how fashion magazines endorsed him as gay. A consummate performer, Muñoz elevates both.
The musical’s first act concludes with the title track, which suggests that the fashion world is a kind of hell. “Hell is a runway,” sings the chorus (I had to look up the lyrics later because the sound mix is so muddy), “Where the devil wears Prada.” But nothing in the show confirms this. What is Andy’s worst affliction? Her boss calls too often. “The Devil Wears Prada” isn’t as posh and acerbic as it should be. If you want life beyond Chicago, you can make some changes.
devil wears prada
At the James M. Nederlander Theater in Chicago until August 21st. Devilwearspradamusical.comRunning time: 2 hours 25 minutes.
