On November 15th, 2018, a new musical titled The
Prom officially opened on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre. With music by Matthew
Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a script by Beguelin and Bob Martin based
off an original concept by Jack Viertel, The Prom tells the story of a young
lesbian student who is banned from attending her high-school prom but is helped
in her efforts to fight back against this ruling by a group of Broadway stars. The
musical was largely inspired by a similar incident that happened to Constance McMillen
in 2010 when she was a senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton,
Mississippi, which attracted a bunch of supportive responses from celebrities. And
upon its debut, the show proved to be a solid hit with critics. It was the
first musical of that Broadway season to earn a Critics Pick honor from
the New York Times, and while it didn’t win any Tony Awards, it earned 7
nominations including one for Best Musical. It also attracted plenty of
attention at the 2018 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when stars Caitlin Kinnunen
and Isabelle McCalla partook in the first LGBTQ kiss in the parade’s history. And
now, in 2020, it’s been brought to life on film in a star-studded adaptation
directed by Ryan Murphy. While it’s only his fourth feature-length directorial
effort, Murphy has been touted as one of the most prominent creative forces in
television having created hit shows like Glee and American Horror
Story while also being a champion for the cause of greater inclusion within
the film and television industry. The Prom serves as one of the first
major projects that Murphy has developed for Netflix via the lucrative $300
million deal that they signed him to in 2018, and with a delightful cast and a
great execution of its source material’s timely themes, we have ourselves a
truly heartwarming musical extravaganza.
In the conservative-minded town of Edgewater, Indiana,
high-school student Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) finds herself in an utterly
devastating situation when her desire to attend her high-school prom with her
girlfriend Alyssa Greene (Ariana DeBose) results in the local Parent-Teacher Association
canceling it entirely, thus turning her into a full-blown social pariah. And
if that wasn’t enough, the head of the PTA happens to be Alyssa’s mother (Kerry
Washington), who is completely unaware of her daughter’s relationship with Emma.
However, when all seems lost, Emma finds herself blessed with the most
unexpected showing of support in the form of a quartet of actors from Broadway;
specifically, self-centered stars Dee Dee Allen (Meryl Streep) and Barry
Glickman (James Corden), long-time chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Nicole Kidman),
and Julliard alum Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells). In the immediate wake of a
disastrous opening night for their latest Broadway production that results in
them being labeled as a pair of narcissists by various critics, Dee Dee and
Barry learn of Emma’s predicament and, along with Angie and Trent, decide to
head to Edgewater on her behalf. But while they’re initially in it solely for
the intent of salvaging their reputations by partaking in ‘a cause’, the group
genuinely begins to bond with Emma and, with the help of her highly supportive principal
Mr. Hawkins (Keegan-Michael Key), begin working tirelessly to make her prom
dreams come true.
Right off the bat, the best thing that I can say about this
film is that it truly delivers on its strong themes that couldn’t be any more
relevant given everything that’s been happening in the world recently. Obviously,
one’s thoughts on how effective content like this is in highlighting the LGBTQ community
may vary, but in this instance, I do believe that The Prom (which I
would personally describe as a ‘modern-day version of Footloose’) is very
much genuine in its themes of love and acceptance. And when paired with a
filmmaker like Ryan Murphy who, as noted earlier, is big on inclusion, you get
an adaptation that hits all the right emotional beats from the cathartically
heartwarming to the utterly devastating. Admittedly, I can’t say much about how
effective the film is as an adaptation of the musical since I haven’t seen the
latter, but aside from expanding upon some plotlines such as Barry Glickman’s
own struggles as a gay man and how it impacted his relationship with his parents,
it seems like the film is as faithful to its source material as it could
possibly be. Sure, it probably could’ve benefitted from some tighter editing
here and there to make up for any parts of the film that start to drag a bit,
but as a musical, it goes without saying that this is where The Prom shines
the most. Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin’s songs are undeniable earworms and are
a great mix of grand showstoppers and emotionally powerful melodies. And under Ryan
Murphy’s solid direction, we get a film that, simply put, is just a highly
entertaining musical comedy anchored by its lovable bunch of main protagonists.
That said, though, while the film does sport a star-studded
ensemble cast, said cast has admittedly garnered some controversy from fans of
the musical over the decision to have A-listers play the lead roles rather than
Broadway stars. There are some Broadway alumni in this, to be fair, such as
Andrew Rannells and Ariana DeBose, but it’s primarily headlined by those who
have more experience in film than they do in theater. Still, for what it’s worth,
practically everyone involved is clearly having a lot of fun in their
respective roles. Whether it’s Meryl Streep being her usual scene-stealing self
or Keegan-Michael Key serving as the straight man to all the shenanigans that
the Broadway stars get into, you can’t fault this film for having an incredibly
fun ensemble. However, when it comes to the film’s biggest standout, that honor
goes to its biggest newcomer, Jo Ellen Pellman. It is almost entirely because of
her that we care about Emma and her endeavors because she makes her a wholly
sympathetic heroine right off the bat. In other words, she’s very much the
heart of the film. But now we must address the elephant in the room that is the
biggest source of controversy that this film has been attracting in the wake of
its release; the casting of James Corden as the gay leading man of Broadway,
Barry Glickman. Simply put, unlike Barry, Corden is not a gay man
whereas the other LGBTQ characters in this story are more accurately cast
(ironically, one of Corden’s main co-stars is Andrew Rannells and he’s playing
a character whose sexuality is never made explicit). Now I’m not going to get into
this whole situation that much since, as I’ve noted in the past, I usually don’t
like to talk about sociopolitical matters such as this in these reviews. So
instead, I’ll just say that while I’m not defending Corden’s performance in
this, I’d argue that the rest of the cast makes up for any shortcomings that directly
stem from him. Was he the ideal pick for the part? No, not at all, but at the
same time, I also wouldn’t call this a case where his performance derails the
film entirely even though Barry is arguably the most prominently featured
member of the Broadway quartet.
I’ll admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with the
world of Broadway, which could largely be attributed to the fact that I don’t
live in New York where, at least before COVID became a thing, I would have a
lot more opportunities to see Broadway shows regularly rather than just
occasionally seeing a touring production of a popular show at my local theatres.
And yet, as some of the past reviews that I’ve done for this site have arguably
proven, I’m a big fan of the musical genre and have liked a fair share of adaptations
of Broadway musicals such as the ever-enduring classic Grease and Tim
Burton’s delightfully twisted take on Sweeney Todd. As such, it should probably
go without saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the film adaptation of The Prom.
While I admittedly haven’t seen the original show at the time of this
review’s publication, the fact that all three of the key figures behind it
(Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin, and Bob Martin) were involved in the film’s
production makes it clear that this adaptation was in the right hands, and because
of this, The Prom is the very definition of a feel-good film. With powerful
themes, undeniably catchy tunes, and a great cast, The Prom is a film
that very much wears its heart on its sleeve. I mean, there’s really nothing more
that I can say about this film other than the fact that it’s a highly
entertaining musical that excellently represents the wonderfully diverse nature
of our ever-expanding pop cultural landscape. And to be perfectly blunt, folks,
in the utterly terrible year that has been 2020, I’d argue that this is one of
the best examples of a film that I can easily recommend to anyone out there who’s
in desperate need of a pick-me-up.
Rating: 5/5!
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