The Crown deleted scene revealed: Emma Corrin’s Princess Diana watches her poignant performance of All I Ask Of You from Phantom of the Opera in full after row with Prince Charles
- Actress’ haunting performance was a standout moment during season four
- Netflix has released deleted scene showing tear-jerking turn on stage in full
- Diana kneels on floor and watches video on small TV alone in her bedroom
- Video shows the reaction of the West End crew, the orchestra and the Phantom
Emma Corrin’s haunting performance of All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera was a standout moment during season four of The Crown.
And now Netflix has released a previously unseen deleted scene showing the Golden Globe-winning British actress’ tear-jerking turn on stage in full on its official YouTube channel.
A poignant moment in the fourth series of the hit show is when the late Princess Of Wales sings the song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical with an orchestra on a West End stage as a wedding anniversary present for Prince Charles.
In the episode Avalanche, Diana surprises Charles (Josh O’Connor) with a VHS recording of the performance, which he later tells Princess Anne ‘was monstrous’.
Netflix has released a previously unseen deleted scene showing Golden Globe-winning actress Emma Corrin’s tear-jerking performance of Diana singing All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera on stage in full on its official YouTube channel
The song is shown after Charles begins to resent her popularity after Diana performs a duet to Uptown Girl in honour of his birthday.
The scene is particularly powerful as it shows the fractures in the couple’s marriage, with Diana desperate to please Charles, while he feels her love of performing and drawing attention to herself isn’t befitting to royal protocols.
In the newly released clip, Diana kneels on the floor and watches the video on a small television alone in her bedroom.
As well as the performance itself, it shows the princess having her stage make-up applied in preparation, the orchestra and the reactions of the West End crew who looked utterly in awe.
The videographer who filmed the performance for Charles is seen capturing every moment, and the Phantom character appears in the background as he does during the duet in the musical.
The videographer who filmed the performance for Charles is seen capturing every moment, and the Phantom character appears in the background as he does during the duet in the musical
As the song comes to its conclusion, fake snow falls on the stage and Diana looks to be in her element, singing the final words – ‘Love me, that’s all I ask of you’ – direct to camera.
The lyrics clearly strike a chord with Diana watching it back, as she continues to stare at the screen even after the video cuts out.
The Crown producers previously revealed they dramatised Princess Diana’s singing scene.
They no doubt drew inspiration for the scene from Chuck Conconi, who wrote in a 1988 of the Washington Post: ‘Diana decided to give Charles a taste of her in her “current favourite musical”.
The Crown producers previously revealed they dramatised Princess Diana’s singing scene
‘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.
‘Diana didn’t settle for second best. The show’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, was there to oversee her performance.’
But Jessica Hobbs, who directed the episode, said while Diana did perform a dance routine to the number from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical for their seventh wedding anniversary, she didn’t sing.
According to The Telegraph, the directors said in The Crown’s podcast the decision was made for Emma Corrin to sing after hearing her voice, and thought it would ‘break viewers’ hearts’.
Jessica told the publication: ‘Our understanding was that she’d done a dance for him that was filmed on stage, in the costumes, on the real set. That’s what we understood from the research. So we extended that to her singing.
The song is shown after Charles begins to resent her popularity after Diana performs Uptown Girl for his birthday (Diana pictured at the Royal Opera House in 1985)
Annie Sulzberger, the show’s head of research, said: ‘When we found out that Emma could sing we thought, “Ok, even if Diana wasn’t the best singer in the world and would have preferred to dance this, we don’t know. We have never seen the video”.
Adding Emma’s performance was ‘magnetic and impactful’, she added: ‘Let’s have her sing it because it’s going to break our hearts, right?’.
Emma previously spoke about the scene and how she had a ‘complete panic attack’, after bosses hired a West End theatre and brought in a Phantom from the show.
Producers decided to get the actress, 25, to sing the number after she revealed All I Ask Of You was one of her favourite songs and showed them a YouTube video of herself singing it during her audition.
‘I did about two [takes] and I had a complete panic attack, had a nosebleed. I had a proper, like, a proper breakdown,’ she told Vulture.
‘I went downstairs and they were so sweet. They were like, “You don’t have to do it. You can do it tomorrow.”
‘And I was like, “You can’t do it tomorrow! We’ve hired a theater!” They were very lovely, but I did it. I did it a lot of times.’
Source: Read Full Article
