Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The big-hearted THE PROM is the Broadway season’s first real musical contender

• By drediman
• November 16, 2018
• No Comments

Michael Potts, Brooks Ashmanskas, Beth Leavel, Christopher Sieber, Caitlin Kinnunen, and the company of “The Prom” at the Longacre Theatre. Photo by of Deen van Meer.

Last night, the supremely cheery new Broadway musical The Prom opened at the Longacre Theatre, and I’m happy to report that it’s a total hoot. The musical, with a score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer) and a book by Bob Martin (the mastermind behind and original star of the delightful The Drowsy Chaperone), tells the story of a group of Broadway almost have-beens/would-have-beens who travel to middle America to help out Emma, a discriminated-upon high school lesbian – in order to revive their theater careers. Once they arrive their destination, it’s not hard to surmise that things don’t go quite as planned.

I had considered the show to be one of the dark horses of the season due to (on paper) its lack of star power and a popular culture hook (e.g., it’s not based on a blockbuster movie, nor are its songs culled from a widely-known preexisting songbook). That being said, the show’s creative team and cast are comprised of some of the hardest working professionals in the business. Sklar and Beguelin’s score – which wittily pays homage to various Broadway styles – is largely infectious and appropriately derivative. The puppy dog-eager book by Mr. Martin is a masterful exercise in sustained, good-natured hilarity. But most of all, the show succeeds because of its undeniably big heart. In its joyous tone, socially-minded themes, and tight execution, The Prom most strongly calls to mind the musical adaptation of Hairspray. Hopefully, it’ll have as much success as that Tony-winning show; it certainly deserves it.

Brooks Ashmanskas and Beth Leavel lead the cast, and they are simply divine, both giving diva-licious performances that consistently one-up each other. Other noteworthy musical veterans featured in the cast are Christopher Sieber and Angie Schworer; both relish the broad roles assigned to them. However, the show’s beating heart is Emma, and young Caitlin Kinnunen’s heartfelt performance stands up firmly against the aforementioned veterans’. Finally, it’s a huge credit to the work of in-demand director/choreographer’s Casey Nicholaw – who is currently represented on Broadway with the hits Mean Girls, Aladdin, and The Book of Mormon – that The Prom is able to gain momentum from curtain up, ultimately sending the audience out into the night on an ecstatic high. His contribution here is clearly a labor of love, and it’s one of his most inspired directorial works to date. The result is the first real musical contender of the 2018-2019 Broadway season.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE PROM
Broadway, Musical
Longacre Theatre
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Open run