The Devil Wears Prada is being made into a musical — with the help of Elton John

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it… Gird your loins!

A 2003 book that laid bare the underbelly of the fashion industry, a 2006 film that still lives in our heads rent free, and now a West End production with an original score by Elton John — The Devil Wears Prada’s universe knows no bounds.

Talks of translating the story to stage first began back in 2015, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that the first pre-Broadway preview premiered in Chicago, and suffice to say majority ruled that it just wasn’t ready quite yet.

So, they returned to the drawing board and got polishing, and now they’re poised and ready for the runway. With three-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell — best known for Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde, Pretty Woman, and Hairspray — taking the reigns of director-choreographer, the musical will arrive at Dominion Theatre, London, in October 2024 following initial dates in Plymouth over the summer.

There’ll be an original score by music legend Elton John and lyrics by Shaina Taub, set design from Back to the Future‘s Tim Hatley, and judging from the musical’s official description, it sounds like they’ll be very much staying true to the original story: “Fresh out of college, aspiring journalist Andy scores a job at the prestigious Runway magazine working for fashion’s most powerful and terrifying icon — editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly,” it reads.

“Sacrificing her personal life to meet Miranda’s impossible demands, Andy finds herself seduced by the glamorous world she once despised. How far will she go to succeed… and will it be worth selling her soul to get what she’s always wanted?”

Elton John was first attached to a theatrical adaptation back in 2017, saying at the time: “Re-imagining The Devil Wears Prada for the musical theatre is super exciting. I’m a huge fan of both the book and the feature film, and a huge aficionado of the fashion world. I can’t wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of popular culture.” With The Lion King and Billy Elliott already under his belt, it’s safe to say the score is in very capable hands.

While casting is yet to be confirmed, there are some seriously big stilettos to fill. Last year, Anne Hathaway mooted the notion of returning to the role of Andy Sachs, saying that though it would be tempting, the print media landscape has changed too much in the intervening two decades. “I don’t know if there can be [a sequel],” Hathaway said. “I just think that movie was in a different era. Now, everything has gone so digital and that movie centred around the concept of producing a physical thing. It’s just very different now.”

To that I say, stop making excuses and just make it work. I, personally, will campaign for a sequel until the day I die.

In another interview given around the same time, Hathaway took a stance on whether or not her character’s boyfriend Nate was in fact the true villain of the story. “No, I’m sorry I don’t,” she said on Watch What Happens Live. “I think that they were both very young and figuring things out, and he did behave like a brat, but I also behaved like a brat in my twenties and I hopefully grew out of it and I think that that’s what we all do. I wouldn’t want to be defined by my worst moment in my twenties, certainly, so I don’t hold Nate as a villain actually.”

Wrong again, Anne, but I’ll let her have her opinion.

Arriving at London’s Dominion Theatre in October 2024, you can sign up for exclusive priority access here. Obviously, dress accordingly. That’s all.