The Prom (2020)

Unlike the critics, Jack and I loved this glitzy musical comedy about narcissistic Broadway actors helping a midwestern girl take her girlfriend to her prom. Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, and Andrew Rannells ham it up and sing beautifully, along with, among others, Keegan-Michael Key, Kerry Washington, and Jo Ellen Pellman as the girl.

This was originally a Broadway musical that ran, including previews, from October 23, 2018 to August 11, 2019. We actually had tickets to see it the following week, but it closed early as they got ready to make the adaptation for Netflix and our New York trip couldn't be moved up. I miss Broadway so much!

Ryan Murphy directs from a screenplay by the Tony winning team of Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, with the musical book by them and Matthew Sklar, a multi-nominated Broadway veteran. The original score is credited to Sklar and David Klotz. 

One big change from the original production is that the roles were played by actors who were not big stars but, obviously, the decision was made to chuck that for the silver screen.

Here are links to the movie soundtrack on Apple Music and Spotify with the above stars, and to the Broadway original cast recording on Apple Music and Spotify.

It seemed to my ears that the songs were recorded in a controlled studio and I appreciated that––although some of the teenagers (not Pellman) sounded to me as if they were auto-tuned.

We in the heartland sometimes take issue with being satirized as hicks. Well, this show is rife with Indiana bashing. Here's an article about it from an Indianapolis newspaper. Indianapolis happens to be Murphy's birthplace.

The fun choreography is credited to Casey Nicholaw, and here's an article from Variety about it. Production designer Jamie Walker McCall does great work, too, including having built a replica of Manhattan's 44th Street (the middle of the theatre district).

There's plenty of fun trivia to be learned but my favorite is one that Jack looked up. Kidman's character is supposedly vying with Tina Louise for a part. Louise, who was part of the Gilligan's Island ensemble, is 86.

Streep was last blogged for Little Women, Corden for Into The Woods, Kidman for Bombshell, and Key for Dolemite Is My Name. Rannells was covered in A Simple Favor. After Washington was blogged for Django Unchained she starred in all 124 episodes of Scandal and all eight of the miniseries Little Fires Everywhere. After I wrote about Murphy for Eat Pray Love he produced most and directed some of the serieses The New Normal, Feud: Bette and Joan, Pose, The Politician, and Hollywood, to name a few. This column in Glamour has a nice profile of Pellman.

As noted, Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 58%, and its audiences at 68 aren't pinning corsages on this movie. But we had a great time two weeks ago streaming it on Netflix. And, in a normal year, it would have been a lovely choice for our annual Christmas afternoon movie.