The Prom: Star-studded adaptation of an LGBTQ-themed Broadway hit bounces from laid-on-thick to thin
By Liam Lacey
Rating: C
Hollywood typically offers at least one big holiday musical, and even this peculiar year, one has squeaked through. The Prom, starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and James Corden has moved from the Broadway stage to Netflix, thanks to prolific TV creator Ryan Murphy (Glee, Hollywood).
After shooting in late 2019 and earlier this year, the film was postponed in March in COVID-19, finally wrapping this past summer.
James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Meryl Streep hatch a publicity stunt in The Prom
The original stage musical, (score by Matthew Sklar, with a book by Chad Beguelin and Canadian Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) bowed on Broadway in 2018, where it was praised by critics for its campy inside-theatre humour and a sincere message about supporting gay teens. The story follows a quartet of vain Broadway actors who, seeking a career lift, make the cynical decision to champion the cause of a teen-aged Indiana lesbian, who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.
The hyper-glitzy opening scene of the film is set at the Broadway premiere of a musical Eleanor!, on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. For the first 20 minutes or so, the movie version of The Prom looks broadly played, but promising. That’s mostly on the strength of Streep’s turn as a Patti Lupone-like Tony-Award winning Broadway diva. She and gay co-star Barry Glickman (Corden) as Franklin D, are seen preening on the red carpet,
After the show, at Sardi’s, their lovey bubble is burst with a soul-destroying New York Times review (“If you’re considering buying a ticket to this show, do yourself a favour and buy a few feet of good heavy rope instead and then go hang yourself.”) The show’s publicist, Sheldon (Kevin Chamberlin) isn’t helping to cheer them up: “It’s not the show,” he explains. “It’s you two. You’re not likeable. Nobody likes a narcissist.”
But Dee Dee and Barry, along with actor-bartender Trent (Andrew Rannells), and perennial Chicago understudy and barfly Angie (Kidman), come up with a plan: They’ll become celebrity activists to “still love ourselves and appear to be decent human beings.”
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
They check their Twitter feeds and see the trending story of Emma, a teen lesbian who is being denied a chance to take her girlfriend to the prom. Trent, who is about to join a non-union touring production of Godspell, suggests they all get on the bus to Indiana, proclaim support for Emma’s cause and redeem their reputations: “We’re going to help that little lesbian whether she likes it or not.”
The troupe hits town just as a Parent Teachers Association Meeting is underway. Conservative PTA head, Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington, a real life progressive) vows to nix the prom, rather than have it turn into a “homosexual” event by having Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman) bring a same-sex date. On the opposite side, school principal Tom Hawkins (Keegan-Michael Key) insists that having an inclusive prom is a civil rights issue. “This isn’t America, it’s Indiana!” insists Green. Naturally, we soon learn that Mrs. Green’s daughter, Alyssa (Ariana DeBose) is Emma’s closeted girlfriend.
In the midst of their battle, the Broadway stars burst into the room and Dee Dee unleashes her big production number, “It’s Not About Me!” which, of course, is very much about her, advertising her selflessness: “Unless I am doing The Miracle Worker, I won't play blind, deaf and dumb!"
That number is The Prom peak, as the story lists forward in indulgent scenes that typically feel either too bloated (the musical numbers) or too thin (the dramatic ones.). Emma faces more community cruelty, characters share their stories, and mean people eventually see the light.
Murphy’s musical numbers are staged with the usual Glee-style sugar rush of intensity, including several acrobatic mass choreography exercises, though the busy camera rarely allows us to appreciate the full effect.
Each character gets their subplot: The jaded Dee Dee discovers a rare straight male fan and love interest in the school principal, Tom (Key). James Corden’s Buddy shares with Emma about his difficult youth and reconnects with the mom who disowned him. And Kidman’s Angie gets one substantial scene where she offers a jazz-hands tribute to Bob Fosse for Emma’s inspirational benefit (not bad, but it’s no Fosse).
Cameo appearances by Mary Kay Place and Tracey Ullman add celebrity ballast but not much dramatic impact.
As for the younger cast, Jo Ellen Pellman, as Emma, has a sweet broad face that suggests a young Elisabeth Moss, and a light clear voice put to moving use in her main ballad, Unruly Heart. But there’s not much suggestion of rebel energy. As her girlfriend, DeBose (Hamilton) sings beautifully too. Both are conventionally feminine and their transition from high school outsiders to accepted status is frictionless.
While Streep, does the arch diva effortlessly, and raises the gym roof with her voice, Corden’s performance is awkward. As the “gay as a bucket of wigs” Buddy, he never finds a happy balance between campy and vulnerable.
Kidman’s minor part belies her star billing. Broadway star Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon) tears into his big Christian fundamentalist-baiting Footloose-like number, Love Thy Neighbor, performed with high school kids in a shopping mall. Unfortunately, his character barely has enough screen time to show a personality. He’s far better in a remake of The Boys in the Band, currently on Netflix.
The Prom, as it progresses from camp to earnest messaging, is like a sermon you believe, but still find too preachy. If you want to enjoy self-mocking Hollywood narcissism, I’d recommend Christopher Guests’ For Your Consideration (on iTunes) . Or, for a less self-congratulatory musical about a misfit teen that mixes its inclusive message with irreverence, have another viewing of Hairspray (Netflix.).
The Prom. Directed by Ryan Murphy. Written by Bob Martin, and Chad Beguelin, Stars Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Jo Ellen Pellman, Ariana DeBose, Kerry Washington. The Prom is currently streaming on Netflix.