Princess Diana Musical About Wedding To Prince Charles Headed To Broadway, With Music By Bon Jovi Member

A Broadway play depicting the weeks prior to the wedding of Princess Diana to Prince Charles in 1981 is headed to the Great White Way, and the music is penned by none other than the keyboardist for Bon Jovi.

David Byran, who has already won a Tony Award for writing the music for the play Memphis, once again teamed with Joe DiPietro, his writing partner with whom Bryan shared the accolade in 2009, to make the new show titled Diana.

“I was reading a book about her and I thought, ‘This is an amazing story about an amazing woman.’ She has this aspirational aspect to her where she really wanted to do good. I thought it was a great idea for a musical,” he said to London Theatre, as reported by People Magazine. “I asked around to see if anyone was doing it — no one was — so David and I just jumped into it.”

“It’s very much about marriage. The four main characters are [Diana], Charles, Camilla, and the Queen,” explained DiPietro of the play’s premise.

People Magazine reported that the play is set in 1981 and follows the late princess as she readies herself for the major life change of marrying Prince Charles and into one of Britain’s most storied families. The show also deals with Diana’s tempestuous relationship with the press, and most of all, her husband’s infamous affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

The musical made its world premiere earlier this year in La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre in California, concluding it’s run April 14, reported Playbill. Performances will begin at the Longacre Theatre March 2, 2020, with opening night set for March 31. The Longacre Theater in New York City was home to The Prom before the show’s official closing August 11 of this year.

David Bryan has been the keyboardist for the multimillion record-selling rock band Bon Jovi for all of the band’s 37 years together recording and performing. He wrote 22 songs for the Diana musical, according to Keyboard Magazine.

Bryan has also worked with DiPietro and Chris Ashley, their director from Memphis, on another musical called Chasing the Song about the first woman song publisher in the Brill Building in 1960. The three are hopeful that at some point that musical, too, will make it to the stage.

Princess Diana was married to Prince Charles from 1981 through 1996. The couple is parents to Princes William and Harry. Just one year after the couple officially divorced, Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car accident in Paris after being chased by paparazzi into a tunnel as they were looking to get a photo of the Princess of Wales and her companion Dodi Fayed together.