Belper Arts Festival to Broadway stage for singer Joanna De Waal playing Princess Di in Diana - The Musical

A singer who performed to 300 people at Belper Arts Festival will be seen by millions on Netflix and Broadway as Princess Diana in Diana – The Musical.
By Gay Bolton
Published 28th Sep 2021, 12:21 BST
Jeanna de Waal, performing at Belper Festival two years ago, will now be seen by millions worldwide in Diana - The Musical to be shown on Netflix.Jeanna de Waal, performing at Belper Festival two years ago, will now be seen by millions worldwide in Diana - The Musical to be shown on Netflix.
Jeanna de Waal, performing at Belper Festival two years ago, will now be seen by millions worldwide in Diana - The Musical to be shown on Netflix.

Jeanna De Waal sang at the festival’s opening concert in 2019 in the year that the musical premiered in America.

George Gunby, director Belper Arts Festival, said: “When Jeanna arrived in Belper she had created the role of Princess Diana and had just finished the initial run in San Francisco. We all expected a Broadway run but Covid put paid to that, until now.”

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Jeanna’s link with Belper author/actress and presenter Fliss Goldsmith brought her to the Derbyshire town two years ago. They had been friends at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts where Jeanna gained a BA (Hons) degree.

After being spotted by Ben Elton, Jeanna joined the cast of We Will Rock You and later moved to New York. Leading roles followed in Kinky Boots, American Idiot, Waitress and Finding Neverland then national tours of Wicked (in which she played Glinda) and The Rocky Horror Show (Janet).

George Gunby said “To use a good old fashioned Derbyshire expression, Jeanna had ‘no edge’. She gave as much attention to the Belper concert for an audience of 300 as she did her work on Broadway.

"Watching her rehearse with Dave Adey and the musicians was a privilege. The bill for the concert was completed by Belper Musical Theatre and Derby’s Paddy Stafford and Jeanna was very happy to mix, chat and, most importantly, encourage. After the concert she mingled with the audience, signed autographs and chatted happily. Then we went to the pub!”

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Diana – The Musical can be seen on Netflix from October 1. It was filmed on the stage of New York’s Longacre Theatre, where the show opens on November 17.

Tony Award winners Joe DiPietro and Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan composed Diana – The Musical.

The trio had previously collaborated on Memphis which ran on Broadway for three years and almost 1200 performances. Featuring Beverley Knight, Memphis featured in London’s West End for 18 months.

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Related topics:NetflixBelper