Vanessa Williams on playing Miranda Priestly in 'The Devil Wears Prada' in the West End

American actress and singer Vanessa Williams has made a career out of playing bold women, so she was a shoo-in for the role of demanding fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly.

Vanessa Williams breezes into our interview looking like she’s wandered off a catwalk, immaculately dressed in a floaty jumpsuit teamed with a feathery gilet. Having won millions of fans playing Wilhelmina Slater in the Emmy Award-winning TV series Ugly Betty for four seasons – not to mention launching her own clothing line, V – she’s no stranger to the world of high fashion. So, will she be channelling her former fictional Mode editor in her portrayal of The Devil Wears Prada’s haute honcho Miranda Priestly?

“I would say that my instrument is my instrument – my voice is my voice, my body is my body and how it moves in the space is mine – so if there’s a strut that’s similar to what I’ve done before then it’s because that’s how I walk in heels,” smiles Williams. “So yes, people who are fans of Wilhelmina will see glimpses, and people who know the film will hear familiar dialogue.”

The credentials of the creative team tempted Williams on board, as well as the desire to create a role in the West End. “It’s more gratifying, because you get a chance to see the development and make choices to improve it.” She had already worked with director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell on his project Broadway Babes, but hadn’t previously crossed paths with any of Prada’s writing team. So, has Elton John been popping into rehearsals? “He came in January after knee surgery, then again in May following another knee surgery – poor guy. So, he’s been doing a lot of repair work!”

Williams sings the praises of her talented co-stars Matt Henry, Georgie Buckland and Amy Di Bartolomeo, and says that those hoping to see couture-level costume design won’t be disappointed. “Gregg Barnes has designed the show, but most of my outfits are by Pamella Roland, a designer who works in the fashion world and is making the transition for the show.”

Despite a long and varied acting and singing career, Williams is probably best-known to many for her TV roles in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives. The former series clearly has a very special place in her heart. “We loved each other,” she smiles. “Everyone had theatre training and it was almost like a comedy improv troupe where we’d all be like ‘Oh God, this could work – let’s try THIS!’” She says she keeps in regular contact with the cast and writers. “Michael Urie was in my ‘Legs’ video and America [Ferrera] is in London at the moment. She texted me: ‘Are you here? I’m here!’”

Since making her Broadway debut in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994, Williams has notched up an impressive range of theatre credits, including Into the Woods, Carmen Jones and POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. She first hit the West End in Josie Rourke’s production of City of Angels in 2020, but sadly the Covid axe came down on the show during its preview period. It also impacted the Broadway run of POTUS two years later. “We still had to be tested every other day and the audience still had to wear masks. It wasn’t until July when people were able to take their masks off and we were like ‘Oh my God, they’re laughing – we’re funny!’ It changed the whole dynamic of the comedy.”

When I ask how she thinks the industry has changed since she entered it back in the 1980s, Williams pauses to reflect. “I tend to see it through a different lens – more as a producer, because I’m also producing A Wonderful World on Broadway,” she replies. “As an investor, you would always look at the box office advance and find security in that. But audiences are very different now – they come up and pay for their tickets, so nobody’s buying in advance really and you’re relying on word of mouth and tourists.” She says she’s also noticed a demographic shift: “I’m on the board of the Roundabout Theatre [in New York] and a lot of the subscribers have passed away. So, that subscriber audience in their seventies, eighties and nineties who used to be guaranteed to buy the season is shrinking.”

This demographic shift highlights the importance of shows like Hamilton and POTUS that appeal to a younger audience, says Williams. “We went to see Suffs, which is written by Shaina Taub [Prada’s lyricist], and it’s energising young female audiences because it’s all about women’s empowerment and the right to vote.” All prescient issues in today’s turbulent political landscape, Williams notes. “Towards the end, they’re talking about all these landmarks that we tried to get through and yet we still don’t have the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment] passed – so we kind of won, but they’re still taking our rights away!”

Williams acknowledges that the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements have also had an impact on the industry. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, she joined forces with Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, Wendell Pierce and others to found Black Theatre United. Together they came up with A New Deal for Broadway to ensure that all-white creative teams became a thing of the past. Williams is proud that Jerry Mitchell has signed up to this mission on Prada by enlisting diverse cast and creative teams, as well as delivering diversity training at the start of rehearsals. “It’s not like everybody’s at fault and is a horrible person – it’s more to do with micro aggressions and things people may not even be aware of,” says Williams.

Williams admits she’s benefitted from colour-blind casting during her career. “When I stepped into Kiss of the Spider Woman, no one said: ‘You’re a Black woman, you can’t play someone from Argentina.’ Same with the Witch in Into the Woods – it’s fantasy, we’re creating roles!” The difference now, she points out, is that diversity is actively being written into scripts. “When I did POTUS, Selina [Fillinger, the writer] said ‘this needs to be a person of colour’ to ensure the cast was always diverse. So yes, I’ve seen tremendous change and more is coming!”

It’s because of these changes that Mitchell insisted on setting his new production of The Devil Wears Prada in 2005. “The way Miranda operates – nowadays people would say ‘ooh’, call HR and she’d be cancelled,” says Williams. “So, if we have it in 2005, the money was still there for all of these big magazines and Miranda had power – she was ruling it all.”

Williams has been a pioneer from a young age. In 1983, she became the first Black woman to win the Miss America title, but was forced to resign her crown prematurely after a series of unsolicited naked images were published in Penthouse. Williams admits that any pride she might have experienced in breaking the racial glass ceiling was cancelled out by the years of abuse she suffered in the wake of the scandal. “I wasn’t a pageant girl, so I didn’t know what to expect,” she confides. “I look back at myself at 20 years old and say, ‘oh my God, how did I live through all that?’ Because I’m a mother of four and I see where my kids are at that age – you’re still trying to figure out who you are, what your opinions are and what to do with your life. So, I look back and wish I could comfort that 20-year-old and say: ‘It’s all going to be fine’.”

Williams finally received a public apology from Miss America when she performed at the 2016 ceremony and former CEO Sam Haskell praised her “grace and dignity” throughout the intervening years. Qualities that have also marked her long career – so what would she say was the secret of her success? “Being professional,” says Williams. “There’s no time for... I don’t want to say diva-ness, but there’s no time for not being prepared. In TV and film, I’ve heard stories of people turning up two or three hours late. They’re just wasting the time of all those people who showed up early and prepared.” She shakes her head. “I always feel guilty if there’s anyone waiting for me.”

Book The Devil Wears Prada tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Vanessa Williams. (Photos by Matt Crockett, Danny Kaan, and courtesy of production)