W ith her long, hard stares, icily superior demeanour and cutting one-liners, the character of the fashion editor Miranda Priestly became an instant shorthand for the boss from Hell when the film of The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006. In a story based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, who worked with Anna Wintour at Vogue, Priestly tells the intern (Anne Hathaway) she needs to lose weight, makes her procure an unpublished Harry Potter manuscript and buy her steak that she never eats (perish the thought of all those calories!). Now, almost 20 years on, the role is in musical theatre form, the film having been turned into a stage show starring Vanessa Williams.
Williams, a former Miss America whose previous work includes television.