In 2010, a lesbian high school student in Fulton, Mississippi, wanted to attend the prom with her girlfriend, but the school board banned her attendance. With the help of the ACLU, she sued the school board and won. In an act of true cruelty, she was “given” a prom that only 7 people attended, while the rest of the student body held their prom at a secret location. Her story attracted national attention through a social media campaign, and celebrities like Green Day and Lance Bass contributed to create an inclusive “Second Chance Prom.”
The story inspired an original musical-comedy stage production, “The Prom,” that was mounted in Atlanta in 2016. Two years later it came to Broadway where the show received positive reviews and a Drama Desk award for Best Musical, but high production costs caused it to close after a year without making a profit. It might have ended as a footnote in the history of Broadway, except that mega-producer Ryan Murphy decided to do a movie version of it as part of his production deal with Netflix, with him directing as well. With his record for success, Murphy can get just about any actor he wants, and the cast is an embarrassment of riches: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, Keegan-Michael Key, and in two cameo roles, Mary Kay Place and Tracey Ullman.
The story opens with the head of the PTA at the high school in a small town in Indiana, Mrs. Greene (Washington), announcing that student Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) would not be allowed to attend prom since she’d come out as a lesbian. In New York City, Dee Dee Allen (Streep) and Barry Glickman (Corden) are preparing for opening night of their musical based on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. When the reviews come in, it’s clear the show has tanked and will close after one performance. Dee Dee and Barry commiserate in a bar with long-time chorus girl Angie Dickinson and down-on-his-luck-actor-bartender Trent Oliver (Andrew Rannells). They feel the need to engender some good will and appear selfless, and when they hear about Emma’s situation, they decide to descend on her small town to get the PTA to change their minds. Trent offers them a ride to Indiana since he’s headed that way with a non-union traveling production of “Godspell.” Needless to say, their appearance before the PTA is a disaster, and a subsequent attempt to support Emma’s cause only makes things worse.
Emma is supported by the school’s principal (Key), who is also a fan of musical theater and has seen Dee Dee several times on Broadway. As the New Yorkers learn more about Emma, including how she was disowned by her parents and kicked out when she came out, causing her to now live with her grandmother (Place), the reality of it starts to hit them, especially for Glickman who had left his home in Ohio rather than give his parents a chance to throw him out and has not spoken to them since. Complicating everything is Emma’s love, Alyssa (Ariana DeBose), who is the still-closeted daughter of PTA president Greene.
The screenplay was written by two of the composers of the original production, Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, and the effective score keeps the energy bubbling throughout. One standout sequence, set in the town’s mall, has Trent and the Gospel cast meeting two high school couples who are Emma’s prime tormentors. When the couples defend their bullying on the basis of the Bible, Trent and cast give them a tuneful trip through all the sinful activity condemned in Leviticus that is conveniently forgot by many “religious” people. It’s an argument that’s been made before – one of the best sequences of “The West Wing” has the president educating a religious bigot in a similar fashion – but with the music and choreography it becomes a joyful experience.
All of the well-known cast are exceptional in their roles, particularly Kidman who does a showstopping homage to Bob Fosse as she tries to lifting Emma’s spirits, but the standout is newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman. It would be intimidating to anyone to have to play against this cast in your first movie, but Pellman thrives as Emma, not only holding her own but standing out. Also deserving of praise is Rannells, who has been working as a voice actor and in series television almost without break since he was a teenager (The Knick, How I Met Your Mother, and Girls are a few of his credits). The role is a bit cliched as the Julliard grad who hasn’t been able to survive as an actor, but he transcends it with verve and energy.
As a musical-comedy, it is completely enjoyable. Murphy, though, makes you feel the injustice and devastation of Emma’s being ostracized. By the end both the New York contingent and the town learn lessons about acceptance. With the number of anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation still being enacted in multiple states, it’s clear it’s a lesson still to be learned.
omnivorous cinephile 