“I had a complete panic attack, which was actually not very fun on the day,” Corrin told Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk. The Crown brought in the real West End Phantom set to film the performance we see over VHS alongside the actual Phantom cast members and orchestra. The actual act of taping the performance for the show, however, ended up being much more difficult. Corrin, who has a background in musical performance as well as acting, blew them away. Corrin surprised the producers by saying the song was one of her favorites, and they pulled up a YouTube karaoke track of “All I Ask of You” during the audition for her to perform over. The series’ producers brought up the story with Emma Corrin, who plays Diana, during her auditions. The show’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, was there to oversee her performance.”Īccording to a producer on The Crown, the idea of Diana singing “All I Ask of You” may be an exaggeration - records indicate that Diana at least gave Charles a present of her dancing to the song, but the tape itself is unavailable to the public - but the show decided to run with the idea. As Chuck Conconi wrote in a 1988 Washington Post column, Diana decided to give Charles a taste of her in her “current favorite musical.” “She did this simply by renting the show’s set at the theater in London’s West End where it is playing and having her movements directed by the show’s choreographer, Gillian Lynne,” he adds. But no! Diana really did give Charles a tape of a Phantom performance as her seventh-wedding-anniversary present. The scene is such a wild collision of royal restraint and ’80s excess you might assume that The Crown invented it whole cloth in order to underline some thematic beats. “It was monstrous! A video of Diana singing some dreadful song in some dreadful musical,” He later tells his sister, Anne, like a true snob. Unlike the Phantom, though, Charles really would prefer if she did not sing. Charles, who has already established that he hated Diana’s previous birthday present of a public dance to “Uptown Girl,” by Billy “Jo-el” (as the queen pronounces it), is quite displeased by this gift, even as Diana insists that she loves to perform in order to show what she really feels, and felt the gift would be fine if just between the two of them.
Princess diana uptown girl video full#
In the episode “Avalanche,” Diana surprises Charles with a VHS recording of herself singing, of all things, “ All I Ask of You,” from The Phantom of the Opera, in Christine Daaé drag in front of a full orchestra. "I remember thinking, 'Don’t drop the future Queen of England,'" he recalled.Of the many cringe-inducing things that happen in the fourth season of the crown - Elizabeth tries to decide whom her favorite child is Thatcher destabilizes much of the British economy and government - one of the more painful to watch comes in the form of an anniversary present. See the snaps and some of some of the moves recreated by Sleep in the CBS clip below.Īt one point, Sleep even carried Diana across the stage. While sadly no video exists of this undoubtedly memorable performance, several photos do. (She was certainly living in an "uptown world," no?) The lyrics present an especially interesting parallel to Diana's royal troubles and affairs. "Uptown Girl" had reached number one in the United Kingdom in 1983 and staying atop the charts for five whole weeks, making it second biggest-selling single of the year. Sleep came up with the moves - including bits of jazz, ballet and even a kickline - but the music choice came from the princess. (At 5 feet and 11 inches, Diana towered over the 5-foot, 2-inch ballet dancer.) "But I soon realised she had a good sense of humour, and that we could have some fun with our height difference." "My first thought was, she’s too tall to dance with me," Sleep said in The Guardian.
Princess diana uptown girl video archive#
Photo credit: Princess Diana Archive - Getty Images