Synopsis

Diana before the marriage.  Shy, meek, innocent.  She ticks off all the boxes for the perfect royal wife.  All eyes were on her (“What If and Known”).  Everyone is happy on her fairytale wedding day except for her.   We see her coming up the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral with her wedding dress train trailing her.  She tugs at the train - it is long and heavy ("Weight of the World").   She is no longer Lady Diana, now she suddenly is transformed into a royal princess.  We see the light close through one of St. Paul’s doors with another door opening. 

We begin the introduction of the ten Ladies in Waiting via the Page/Narrator who raps a brief synopsis of the First Lady while they are assisting Diana in changing to a new iconic dress.  These imagined interactions of Diana and the modern US ‘First Ladies’ Ladies in Waiting are uncanny parallel stories through Diana’s princess life.  Interactions with a different twist showcasing the positive aspects of how Diana has overcome her challenges.  Rising above becoming stronger. 

It all starts on the Buckingham Palace balcony with Jackie O.  Both women were very young when they burst onto center stage and, despite difficult marriages, grew into their roles.  They take the hand that is dealt to them and become fashion icons (“Moments of Revelation”).  Diana was "chosen" for her marriage, while Lady Bird Johnson didn't have a choice.  Both were thrust into roles they were not ready for.  Diana, along with Pat Nixon, takes the opportunity of her chosen role and makes something of it with her celebrity ("It Chose You").  Diana and Betty Ford both dealt with mental health and addiction issues, Rosalyn Carter chose to focus her efforts on highlighting.  Seeking help to overcome is part of the journey - another door opens, and Diana gets back her self-esteem (“It’s Gonna Be Ok”).  At the peak of homophobia and fear of AIDS, Diana shakes hands with a man suffering from the disease without gloves (“The Hand of Hope”).  Diana’s dancing in the White House highlights Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No to Diana's Yes.  Yes to her compassion for AIDS and her work to destigmatize.  Barbara Bush and Diana both were wife of President/future King, and also mothers of future President/King.  Barbara and Laura Bush focused on literacy as Knowledge.  Diana wanted her children to have Knowledge (“Words have Meaning”).  Diana and Hillary Clinton share the unfortunate common trait of the number "three" (“My Other Third”).  For Diana - this is the moment where she 'gets revenge' with her new coming out, the Revenge Dress, and her independent path to success.  Diana knew she wanted to raise William and Harry to be as "normal" as possible — despite the fact that they were royalty.  Michelle Obama had similar challenge with putting Sasha and Malia in a historic mansion.  This scene centers around normalcy for their children - and mothers as Honeybees (“Normal as Normal Can Bee”).    

We see Diana have a little fun throughout her storybook.  With all the royal titles surrounding Diana, she leads a classroom subject on the lesson of titles.  When it comes to royal titles, the options seem like they are never-ending.  Diana just wants to be known as ‘The Queen of People's Hearts’ (“So Many Titles, So Many Names”).  And Diana was once a Lady.  The First Ladies were, well...Ladies.  We pause for a second to ask, ‘What does a Lady do, and what does she not do?’ (“The Guidebook for Being a Lady”).  But we also see Diana at her most vulnerable.  She visits perhaps the greatest monument to love, the Taj Mahal, alone.  This is a moment where she starts to break away and become her own self.  We take Diana's reflection at a monument to Love and expand on her 'experience of healing'.  Of moving on.  This becomes the beginning of an end (“The Beginning of the End to a Beginning”).

And the introduction of William and Harry lead us to her tragic ending.  William, Harry, Sasha, and Malia talk about life in the Bubble. What is Normal?  The simple little things that are normal - but not normal for them (“The Bubble”).  Each bubble has a brief existence at the end of which it simply vanishes without leaving any trace.  For William and Harry, their bubble never bursts.  They live in it forever.  That is until that fateful day of Diana’s crash when their bubbles shatter.

Diana’s death.  Her untimely sudden ending.  Her unwritten chapters of her life (“Unfinished Storybook”).  The focus shifts to William, Harry, and Diana.  William and Harry were young.  They share their experiences of dealing with the loss of their mum.  If they’d known that was the last time they would speak to their mother—the things they would have said (“If I Only Knew”). The princes who grieved in private as boys are, as adults, trying to shape how she is remembered.  An open door to a bright shining light - just like Diana's early scene of a door opening.  The same door has Diana opening and walking through with bright light in the background to meet with William and Harry.   She shares with them how proud she is of them both (“Letter of Love”).   Her chapter to her unfinished story.

The finale is all about their lasting legacies (“This is My Legacy”).  The First Ladies legacies, William and Harry’s legacies, and Diana’s legacies. The Diana Effect.