Vanessa Williams ‘Refused to Be Compared to’ Meryl Streep’s Devil Wears Prada Performance in Musical Adaptation

“I knew that I was going to make it my own,” Williams said of stepping into the Miranda Priestly role, which Streep played in the 2006 film, onstage

Vanessa Williams was determined to make Miranda Priestly her “own” after signing on to play the Devil Wears Prada character in London.

The actress and singer is currently starring as Miranda in the musical adaptation on the West End, opposite Georgie Buckland as Andy Sachs — roles previously played by Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, respectively, in the hit 2006 movie.

In a conversation with HuffPost UK published Saturday, March 22, Williams, 62, said she “refused to be compared” to Streep, 75, when asked if she was intimidated in taking on the role of Miranda made famous by the three-time Oscar winner.

“I’ve heard this question over and over again, and I knew that I was going to make it my own … that’s been the feedback from everyone who’s seen it,” she said. “After they sit down in their seat, they say, ‘I completely forgot who was playing it before and I love the journey that you took me on.’ “

“And that’s what you have to do as an actor,” Williams added.

The Devil Wears Prada features music by Elton John and lyrics by Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick, from a book by Kate Wetherhead. The musical originated in Chicago in 2022, with Tony winner Beth Leavel as Miranda and Taylor Iman Jones as Andy.

Williams was announced in the role of Miranda in February 2024 ahead of the show’s move to the U.K., first at Theatre Royal Plymouth in Plymouth, England, last July before its opening on the West End at London’s Dominion Theatre that October.

Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada follows Andy, an aspiring journalist who is thrown for a loop when she lands a job as a personal assistant to Miranda, the sharp-tongued editor-in-chief of the fictional Runway fashion magazine.

“Bringing Miranda Priestly to life in the West End is an absolute dream come true,” Williams previously said in a statement about her role, per Variety. “Gird your loins, folks.”

In her recent interview with HuffPost UK, Williams reflected on having “a lot of speeches” in the show — and one in particular posed a hefty challenge.

“Probably my most pressured scene is the cerulean scene,” she said, referring to the iconic sequence where Miranda bitingly breaks down the nuance of color in fashion to Andy after the latter scoffs at what she deems only a slight difference in shade.

“A lot of people know the actual monologue, so I can hear people whisper when I’m doing it,” Williams added. “I usually do a pause before I say ‘cerulean,’ and I can hear the ‘cerulean’ in the audience.”

And while it “doesn’t distract [her] anymore” after doing the show for many months, the actress and singer admitted, “It was a little bit annoying at the start.”

Tickets for The Devil Wears Prada are on sale now.