Vanessa Williams & Georgie Buckland On Bringing The Devil Wears Prada Musical To Life
09 Dec, 2024
There are few characters more iconic – or more terrifying – than Miranda Priestly, the formidable fashion magazine editor from The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep picked up an Oscar nomination for her role in the hit 2006 comedy-drama, and it’s easy to see why. In Miranda, she created a woman who could dismiss anyone with a simple flick of a wrist, and just two cuttingly cold words: “That’s all.”
In the ’00s, The Devil Wears Prada was the jewel in the crown of romcoms for an entire generation. So when it was announced that a musical version written by Elton John and directed by Legally Blonde The Musical hitmaker Jerry Mitchell was coming to the West End, millennials were pretty excited. Then it was revealed that actor and singer Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives – need we say more?) had been enlisted to play Miranda, and the internet lost its mind.
The show officially opened this month, and has already been extended until October 2025 after becoming the fastest selling show in the Dominion Theatre’s history. It’s proving to be a glittering affair, too. John and his husband David Furnish, the latter a producer on the show, have been dropping in at workshops and launch events, and things have been equally star-studded – and stylish – in the audiences, too. Fashion royalty Donatella Versace, Michael Kors and Jean-Paul Gaultier have already stopped by, along with perhaps the ultimate editor-in-chief herself (and Miranda’s rumoured inspiration), Anna Wintour.
Newcomer Georgie Buckland takes on the role of Miranda’s hapless-assistant-turned-sparring-partner Andy Sachs, and excitedly tells me that the crowds have been going wild for the musical. “The gays love it,” she says, before impersonating a recent viral clip in a sing-song voice, “and as Kristen Chenoweth says, ‘I’m nothing without my gays.’”
I’m speaking to Buckland and Williams backstage at the Dominion Theatre, weeks before the musical opens. I’m pleased to report that the latter couldn’t be further from that cold-hearted boss she’s made a name for herself portraying: before Prada, she was perhaps best known as conniving fashion magazine editor Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty.
Buckland arrives just ahead of her, and when Williams serenely enters the room, the co-stars air kiss and pretend to introduce themselves to each other for the first time. It’s proof of the pair’s easy rapport, despite their vastly different backgrounds: one, an English drama school graduate making her West End debut; the other a New York-born TV icon with Grammy, Tony and Emmy nominations to her name. They even finish each other’s sentences.
A former Miss America, Williams explains that the role was first pitched to her back in 2019 during the original Chicago production. Since then, The Devil Wears Prada musical has been given a drastic, much-needed overhaul, and Williams is finally stepping into Miranda’s stilettos.
It was the similarities – at least on paper – between Wilhelmina and Miranda that caused fans to hail Williams’ casting as genius, but she’s keen to point out that Miranda doesn’t get up to half the “insane” antics that Wilhelmina did on Ugly Betty. “I don’t yell anyone’s name, I’m not plotting to do anything particularly devious,” she says. “This is a completely different animal.”
Williams’ ability to separate the two is undoubtedly aided by the fact that she’s seen The Devil Wears Prada a grand total of one-and-a-half times, with that partial watch coming only this year, while first rehearsing for the show in London. Buckland, meanwhile, sits on the superfan end of the spectrum. She excitedly tells me she’s seen the film “millions of times”, explaining: “There’s so many of those films in that time period of 2005 to 2010 that are cult classics. I think having two very strong female leads at the helm of a film is inviting for anyone, especially women who are watching it.” Williams agrees: “People love to root for the underdog.”
Buckland is the first to admit that her Prada passion has caused a few problems. She praises Williams’s interpretation of Miranda; how it’s not a “carbon copy” of Streep’s. “I think that’s really cool, because I found it hard,” she admits. “I’m obsessed with the film, and I can’t do it like Anne Hathaway.” Williams nods: “Right, right, right. Because you have her voice in your head.” Buckland says there’s a pressure to do justice to these heavily quoted scenes: “You have that in your head, thinking, ‘What am I going to take and what am I not?’”
For those who, like Buckland, are fans of the film, the musical will delight. It’s faithful to the original story and script, with all the rants about the colour cerulean and cutting asides we know and love (“Florals, for spring? Groundbreaking”). But those who aren’t so well versed will have a ball, too – in fact, during one performance, an audience member gasped so loudly at one well-known central plot point the actors could hear it onstage.
Ultimately, Buckland says, Prada isn’t a show people come to for major life lessons. Though “if you have to put a message on the show, it’s that you don’t have to change yourself to get to where you want to be,” she says. What’s more important to them both is that audiences take some much-needed enjoyment from the musical. They want fans to love the show for what it is: in Buckland’s words, “A good camp old time.”
The Devil Wears Prada is showing at the Dominion Theatre, London, now
Isobel Lewis is a culture journalist based in London, who specialises in stand-up comedy. She writes for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian and Time Out
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