Musical Developed in Poughkeepsie to Debut on Netflix

Netflix made a surprise announcement that a musical developed in the Hudson Valley will get its streaming debut this year.

The theater world is abuzz over a new broadway show about the life of Princess Diana that will be making it's debut on Netflix. But many Hudson Valley residents may have already seen it.

Diana The Musical will be opening on Broadway in December at the Longacre Theater on 48th street in New York, but in an unprecedented move, it will premiere first on Netflix. While this is great news for theater buffs who are anxious to preview the new musical, it was actually already performed in Poughkeepsie way back in 2017.

The show, spearheaded by the Tony Award-winning team behind Memphis, was workshopped over the summer of 2017 at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater. The theater has been the breeding ground for some of Broadway's biggest shows, including a little production known as Hamilton.

In 2013 Lin Manuel Miranda did a reading of what was then called The Hamilton Mixtape. That workshop eventually evolved into the juggernaut Broadway musical that has broken all Broadway records. That same season Steve Martin and Edie Brickell did a reading for their award-winning Broadway production of Bright Star.

Diana the Musical was filmed in 2020 and features the original Broadway cast, led by Jeanna de Waal as Diana, Roe Hartrampf as Prince Charles, Erin Davie as Camilla Parker Bowles, and two-time Tony Award winner Judy Kaye as Queen Elizabeth.

Producers say they are excited about the unprecedented decision to debut the play on Netflix before hitting the great white way.

The chance to share our show, first with Netflix's global audience, and then welcoming a live audience back on Broadway, is something we've all been dreaming about for more than a year. We could not be more thrilled to finally share both the film and the Broadway musical with the world.

Diana the Musical will debut on Netflix on October 1.