Panned ‘Devil Wears Prada’ musical is seeking a massive makeover

Magazine editor Miranda Priestly’s famous catchphrase from “The Devil Wears Prada” is a withering “That’s all.”

But that — somehow — is not all for Elton John’s disastrous new musical version of the Meryl Streep movie. At least not yet.

Broadway insiders thought it was dead-on-arrival after opening to lukewarm-to-scathing reviews in Chicago last week from every major critic — The Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times. (I’m shocked Le Monde didn’t show up!) 

But the show isn’t packing up its Prabal Gurung just yet — it’s charging ahead like a model who just face-planted on the catwalk.

Getting to New York, however, will involve a lot more than finding its balance and fixing its hair.

Multiple sources told The Post that “Kinky Boots” director Jerry Mitchell was flown out to Chicago Wednesday by producer Kevin McCollum to see the struggling stiletto and give his thoughts. Other directors have made the trek, too. 

A “Prada” rep did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

And, lest you think Mitchell simply wanted to take in the beauty of the Chicago River in summer, his new off-Broadway production of “Kinky Boots” starts being seen by critics here on Friday. He’s busy. 

Current director Anna D. Shapiro, who won a Tony for “August: Osage County” — the total opposite of “Prada” — was at the theater Wednesday night also. Could Mitchell be in town to give her notes? Sure! Jerry Zaks went to Chicago 13 years ago to give “The Addams Family” notes, and the producer liked them so much he fired the original co-directors and gave Zaks the job instead.

The Post has reached out to Shapiro for comment.

Sources inside the production, with a book by Kate Wetherhead and lyrics by Shaina Taub, said the team has wrestled with what to do with the Miranda character. Played by Beth Leavel, the ice-queen editor barely sings any songs and the few she does croon are afterthoughts. 

Making the role nearly non-singing is especially weird considering Audra McDonald, a damn good singer, was going to play the part in an early workshop. (She left.)

Insiders are perplexed by the choice, though the creative team has stood by it. The bulk of the tunes instead go to Taylor Iman Jones as Andy, the Anne Hathaway character, and Javier Munoz as Nigel, the gay fashion editor who was played by Stanley Tucci in the film.

“It’s a show that imagines what would happen if you took all of Max Bialystock’s songs out of ‘The Producers’ and instead gave eight numbers to Ulla!,” said one.

The book (not very funny) and choreography (not theatrical enough) are also in dire need of work, and the production knows it. So are the songs, but the “Tiny Dancer” singer-songwriter isn’t known for ripping up sheet music and writing new numbers on a whim anymore. Still, some think he might be up for the challenge, if only to stave off another “Lestat.”

None of this is cheap. Bringing aboard more creatives will be an added expense for a production that, a source said, would already need to raise eight figures to open in New York. That’s a lot of dough to wrangle after the Wall Street Journal’s Charles Isherwood wrote the musical is “doomed to the metaphorical bargain bins at T.J. Maxx.” 

“Prada” hasn’t announced a Broadway theater yet, but it would likely go into a Nederlander house. Jimmy Nederlander Jr. and Nick Scandalios from the Nederlander Organization, which owns the show’s Chicago theater, came to opening night in the Windy City. Lucky Jimmy disappeared up the aisle for 30 minutes during Act 1. 

The show needs far more fixes than most tryouts get anymore, and buzz was bad on Broadway even before the critics weighed in. Trying to find a “Prada” admirer, or even sympathizer, around Shubert Alley is harder than snapping up a discount seat to “Hamilton.” 

Said a seasoned wag: “They will lose their well-tailored shirt.”

Added another: “It’s the best backstage drama since ‘Spider-Man’!”