Presented by Hope Theatre Inc. as part of the New York International Fringe Festival at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, 3 Spruce St., NYC, Aug. 14-27.
Director Kelly McAllister's overly ambitious, campy production, "Die, Die, Diana," has its funny moments, but we get the point quickly. We all know the characters—Princess Diana (Ashley Wren Collins), whose charisma, striking outfits, and hair successfully get across her persona and all she symbolizes; her ex-husband, Prince Charles (Bob D'Haene), striving to be taken seriously; Dodi Fayed (Vinnie Penna), Diana's comically macho amour; Charles' lover, Camilla (Beth Ann Leone); Queen Elizabeth II (Heather McAllister); and the Queen Mum (R. Paul Hamilton). Jackie Kamm plays both Prince William and, cleverly via a hand puppet, Prince Harry.
Other major characters include Johnny Swift (Jack Halpin), a narrator-TV host, and Myrmidon/Monster of Musical Theatre (director McAllister filling in for Dan O'Neill at the performance caught), who silently reminds us it's a farce. Several actors hilariously portray the Queen's yapping dogs.
The songs for this confused musical, by Scott Sublett and Jef Labes, are mediocre, while Sublett's book goes from romping farce—Charles and Camilla's kinky games, the puppet, warning visits to earth by Aristotle Onassis to Dodi and by Marilyn Monroe to Diana—to heavy-duty drama. Having the Queen use a Baba Wawa-like "w" for "r" and giving the Queen Mum a bad case of flatulence seem too easy as choices for making the characters farcical and don't make much sense.
Diana is not let off the hook. Though she is shown as the victim of an assassination brutally calculated by the Queen, Diana's famed motherly devotion is questioned, as she is too busy with boyfriends to be around much. Once the murder plot and well-choreographed car crash scene (with the other actors playing the paparazzi) get underway, things move fast and hard and are deadly serious. It's never boring, but the mix is just too busy and doesn't quite hang together.