Diana Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Diana: A True Musical Story" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review

The hook is cruelly simple: everyone already knows the ending, so the musical has to convince you that the middle still burns. “Diana: A True Musical Story” tries to do that by writing in two languages at once. One is tabloid velocity, with choruses that behave like headlines. The other is private pleading, where Diana’s lyrics keep asking for ordinary love inside an extraordinary machine. That push and pull is the score’s real subject. Not the crown, not the gowns. Attention.

Joe DiPietro and David Bryan write in bright commercial shapes. Big rhymes. Quick button lines. Hooks that land cleanly in a theatre and even cleaner on a recording. The best moments use that shininess as irony. A palace staff number can feel like a jingle for a prison. A romantic refrain can sound like a contract clause. When the show works, it is because the lyrics understand that monarchy is a system of roles, and roles are also how musicals operate. Diana is asked to “play Diana” before she has learned who she is.

The musical style leans pop-Broadway with rock muscle, and it is rarely subtle. That choice has consequences. It makes Camilla and Charles sharper, sometimes funnier than you expect. It also risks flattening Diana’s interior life into slogans unless the performance gives the words bruises. On the filmed version, the camera catches the tension: a lyric that wants to be a punchline landing on a face that cannot afford to laugh.

How it was made

The project’s 2020 identity is defined by interruption. The Broadway production began previews on March 2, 2020, aiming for a March 31 opening, then Broadway shut down on March 12. Instead of waiting for a normal reopening, the producers chose a strange workaround: the show was filmed at the Longacre Theatre in summer 2020 with COVID-era safety protocols and no audience, then positioned for a Netflix release ahead of its eventual Broadway opening.

Its creative DNA starts earlier, in La Jolla. The musical premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2019, directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Kelly Devine, and it extended multiple times during that run. The writing partnership also has a crisp origin detail: David Bryan has said the first song they wrote was “An Officer’s Wife,” a Queen-centered march idea that set the tone for how the show would treat the institution: disciplined, rhythmic, and emotionally armored.

Design became its own storytelling engine. Costume designer William Ivey Long built a fashion narrative with an almost athletic backstage tempo, including 38 costumes for Diana alone. That number matters because the show’s thesis is transformation under surveillance. Costume changes become plot. Identity changes become choreography.

Key tracks & scenes

"Underestimated" (Diana)

The Scene:

Early 1981. Diana is framed as a “safe” choice. Soft light, polite smiles, a room that thinks it is managing her. The chorus behaves like a committee deciding a future.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is her quiet revolt. “Underestimated” plays as pep talk, but it is also a warning: if you treat a person like an accessory, you should expect them to fight for the right to be human.

"The Worst Job in England" (Palace Staff, The Queen, Charles)

The Scene:

Inside the palace, everything gleams and nothing relaxes. The staff sings in tight formation under bright, institutional light. Diana is the new hire. Nobody says the word “lonely” but the staging does.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric turns monarchy into workplace comedy, then lets the joke curdle. “Job” is the key word. The song suggests the marriage will be evaluated like performance reviews.

"This Is How Your People Dance" (Diana, Charles, Staff)

The Scene:

A forced lesson in manners and movement. Diana is guided, corrected, repositioned. Lighting feels like a training room. The choreography makes “politeness” look like pressure.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is about belonging, but it lands as assimilation. Each repeated phrase becomes a small surrender, and the song’s brightness becomes its own trap.

"Snap, Click" (Paparazzi)

The Scene:

Flashes cut the stage like strobe lightning. The ensemble becomes lenses and shutters. Diana is seen in fragments: a cheek, a wave, a stumble. The soundscape is relentless.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric weaponizes rhythm. The words mimic cameras because the point is not description, it is pursuit. It is the show admitting the antagonist is attention itself.

"The World Fell in Love" (Charles, The Queen, Diana, Ensemble)

The Scene:

A public tour that plays like a montage. Warm spotlight on Diana, cooler edges around Charles. The crowd energy is choreographed adoration, and the staging makes it feel both thrilling and suffocating.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is a coronation without a crown. It frames popularity as destiny, then hints at the cost: if the world “falls,” someone gets crushed.

"Diana (The Rage)" (Charles)

The Scene:

Private rooms. Tighter light. Charles vents as the palace becomes a cage around him too. The staging often isolates him, suggesting a man furious that the story no longer centers him.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is grievance turned anthem. It shows how the show uses pop structure to dramatize entitlement: a hooky refrain for a character who thinks love is owed.

"Secrets and Lies" (Diana, Ensemble)

The Scene:

Diana is confronted by the private damage behind public perfection. The stage picture fractures. Movement becomes repetitive, almost ritual. Lighting shifts toward clinical whiteness, then collapses into shadow.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric names the split the show keeps returning to: what gets hidden so the image can survive. It is one of the score’s bluntest attempts to put interior pain into singable language.

"The Dress" (Diana, Paul, The Queen, Paparazzi)

The Scene:

Backstage energy onstage. Paul functions like a stylist and co-conspirator. When the “revenge dress” lands, the lighting turns camera-ready and the chorus behaves like a gasp made physical.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric turns fashion into strategy. It is not about vanity. It is about control, a rare moment where Diana chooses how she will be seen.

"If (Light the World)" (Diana, Company)

The Scene:

Finale territory. The stage opens up. The ensemble becomes witness and echo. The imagery points forward even as the story cannot. It is staged like a promise the audience already knows will be broken.

Lyrical Meaning:

Hypothetical language is the point. “If” is grief in grammar form. The lyric tries to write an alternate future, then lets the attempt stand as the tribute.

Live updates (2025/2026)

There is no active Broadway run to track in 2025 or early 2026. The musical’s afterlife is licensing. Concord Theatricals lists “Diana” for performance rights, and it also offers a “Diana: High School Edition,” which has helped the title migrate into schools and community theatres.

That shift is visible in production calendars. A Chicago-area company, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, advertised a “Diana: The Musical” run from late May through July 2025, presented by arrangement with Broadway Licensing Global. A Florida company, Theater West End, lists “Diana” for July and August 2026. These are the kinds of appearances the show is built for now: local, short-run engagements where the scale can be adjusted and the audience arrives already fluent in the story.

In the UK, “Diana” also popped up as a one-night concert event at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on December 4, 2023, with Kerry Ellis and Denise Welch among the featured cast. That concert format says something honest about the piece. People are curious about the songs even when they are skeptical of the book.

On screen, the filmed production remains a Netflix title. That availability keeps the score circulating, and it has also turned the show into a repeat-watch object for some viewers, partly because its big lyrical choices play differently when you know exactly where each scene is headed.

Notes & trivia

• The Broadway production began previews on March 2, 2020 and paused for the COVID shutdown on March 12, 2020, before its official opening on November 17, 2021.
• The show closed on Broadway on December 19, 2021, as confirmed by IBDB.
• A filmed capture was recorded in summer 2020 with no audience and later released on Netflix on October 1, 2021.
• The Original Broadway Cast Recording release date was set for September 24, 2021, ahead of the Netflix premiere and Broadway reopening.
• William Ivey Long designed a costume marathon: 38 looks for Diana alone.
• David Bryan has said the first song written for the project was “An Officer’s Wife,” conceived with a march feel for the Queen’s world.
• Concord Theatricals now licenses “Diana,” including a “High School Edition.”

Reception

“If it was deliberate satire it would be genius, but it’s not.”

“Artistically, ‘Diana’ is soulless.”

“There is something audacious about this musical’s suggestion that the people’s princess belongs to the people.”

The critical split is not really a split. It is a consensus about tone, delivered with different levels of patience. Reviewers who dislike it tend to focus on the lyrics’ bluntness and the show’s appetite for punchlines in painful rooms. Defenders tend to argue that the same bluntness makes the piece legible: a pop biography that refuses to whisper. Either way, the show’s reputation is now inseparable from its filmed version. The Netflix release locked the musical into a wider culture war about Diana stories, celebrity, and what art owes real grief.

Quick facts

• Title: Diana: A True Musical Story (also released as “Diana: The Musical” on Netflix and the cast album)
• Year focus: 2020 (Broadway previews began March 2, 2020; the filmed capture was recorded in summer 2020)
• Creators: Book & lyrics by Joe DiPietro; music & lyrics by David Bryan
• Director: Christopher Ashley
• Choreography: Kelly Devine
• Broadway venue: Longacre Theatre
• Broadway opening/closing: Opened November 17, 2021; closed December 19, 2021
• Filmed release: Netflix, October 1, 2021
• Cast album: Diana: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording), released September 24, 2021
• Label/album notes: Digital release plus physical edition; tracklist aligns with the Broadway score (Apple Music and Spotify list the album and tracks)
• Selected notable placements: “Underestimated” as the opening mission statement; “Snap, Click” as the paparazzi engine; “The Dress” as the “revenge dress” reveal; “If (Light the World)” as the finale hypothetical
• Licensing status: Available via Concord Theatricals, including “Diana: High School Edition”

Frequently asked questions

Why is it associated with 2020 if it opened on Broadway in 2021?

Previews began March 2, 2020, but Broadway shut down days later. The production was then filmed in summer 2020 for a later Netflix release, and it finally opened on Broadway on November 17, 2021.

Is the Netflix version the same as the Broadway show?

It is a filmed capture of the Broadway production, recorded without an audience. It preserves the staging, performances, and the score, but it plays differently because the camera controls focus.

Is there an official cast recording with lyrics?

Yes. The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released September 24, 2021, and it is listed on major streaming platforms.

Which songs are the key emotional spine of the show?

Many listeners point to “Underestimated,” “The World Fell in Love,” “Secrets and Lies,” “The Dress,” and “If (Light the World)” as the core arc: arrival, fame, fracture, reclamation, and farewell.

Can schools and community theatres perform it?

Yes. Concord Theatricals licenses “Diana,” and it also offers a “High School Edition.”

Was there a UK run?

There was a one-night concert presentation in London at the Eventim Apollo on December 4, 2023.

Key contributors

Sources: Netflix; Playbill; IBDB; Concord Theatricals; La Jolla Playhouse; The Guardian; Los Angeles Times; Variety; Rolling Stone; Apple Music; Spotify; What’s On Stage; LondonTheatre.co.uk; Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre; Theater West End.