‘The Prom’ @ Uptown Players
—Martha Heimberg
The Prom begins when a venomous review shuts down a Broadway musical about Eleanor Roosevelt—on opening night!—despite a valiant heroine and two certified celebrity stars.
Oh, no! How could that happen? And what’s their next move?
Uptown Players’ regional premiere of The Prom opened this weekend at the Kalita Humphreys Theater to a big house and rounds of applause for this exuberant musical comedy that blends show-biz satire and heartfelt empathy for the plight of gay teenagers seeking authenticity in the conformist society of rural Midwestern America.
Written by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, with music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Beguelin, the show premiered in 2018 in New York. (A film adaptation directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Meryl Streep was released on Netflix in 2020.) The musical continues to resonate with audiences for its message of tolerance, whether the subject is coming out or changing genders.
Here, director Penny Ayn Maas and musical director Vonda K. Bowling (with her fine 8-player band) keep this 26-member cast moving with speed and ease. There are 19 scenes and 16 songs, with tight, athletic dance numbers choreographed by Evor, and the sheer energy of the sharp, youthful ensemble is an upper. Glittering prom dresses and over-the-top tuxedoes are just one fun feature of Jeffrey Meeks’ original costume design, adapted here by Suzi Cranford.
Back to the stranded stars: Turns out, Dee Dee Allen (svelte Cara Statham Serber, belting lyrics and stumbling into love) and Barry Glickman (the always happy camper B.J. Cleveland, mugging with zeal and delivering comic lines with perfect timing) are regarded as such narcissistic divas on the Broadway stage that nobody can stand their preening and posturing any longer.
Determined to “show the world we’re not attention whores,” they seek an important social issue to rally ‘round—so they can at least appear to be more than singing egomaniacs. Out-of-work actor friends Angie (leggy, vivacious Erin Bowman) and Trent (boyish Trey Tolleson, trading on teen appeal) reject the first do-gooding ideas. Habitat for Humanity is out: no house building with bad backs.
“We need a safe, non-threatening, low-risk cause to support,” says Barry, summing it up.
At last Dee Dee finds a story about some Indiana parents trying to shut down the high school prom because a gay girl says she’s bringing her girlfriend. Perfect. Barry shouts that they’ll deliver LGBTQ acceptance “one lesbian at a time!” It’s a great absurdist twist of a plot—a way to get Broadway stars to the homophobic hinterland, pack the stage with young actors and singers, and remind everybody of the hallowed, harrowing tradition of the senior prom in America.
Right away, we get to the crux of the show. Who you taking to the prom? If you’re a young lesbian named Emma Nolan (brave, self-possessed Maya Michalski), your date must be your true love—popular, closeted Alyssa Greene (vulnerable, please-not-yet Presley Duyck). But the very idea of girls dating girls in Indiana is, well…you gotta have your head all the way in your locker to even think about it.
Emma is aware. “Note to self: Don’t be gay in Indiana,” she says aloud as she braces herself for the raucous jibes of the jocks and the mean gossip of the girls she passes in the hallway.
Mean Mrs. Greene (practically hissing Julia Rose Hartman), Alyssa’s mom and president of the P.T.A., bullies her daughter and tries to bully principal Tom Hawkins (stalwart David Lugo, adding a welcome gravity to the wild proceedings) into shutting down the dance. Hawkins sympathizes with Emma, and invokes state law about such exclusions. The celebs barge in waving protest signs. “No more Mister Nice Gay.”
Poor Emma is just embarrassed, with good reason. The best these self-proclaimed “liberal Democrats from New York” can do to get media attention is a halftime show at a monster truck rally.
“Acceptance” is a winning song and dance number, and the whole company shines at halftime, but the truck crowd boos them off the field, and we’re back to square one. Or are we? (Original scenic designs throughout, by Michael Raiford and adapted by Dennis Canright, are spare and telling, from a festive gym on prom night to a table for two at Applebee’s.) Turns out the dignified Hawkins loves Broadway shows and is a longtime Dee Dee fan. His quiet adoration has her asking him something she’s never asked anyone before. “Tell me about you.” Gradually, even Big Ego Barry starts showing some Old Softie signs as he gets closer to Emma, and remembers his own prom jitters from way back when.
Revolution or resolution? The Prom delivers a little of both, along with charming love songs and joyful victory dances, before the show is done. True, the show has a syrupy moment or two, but I clapped along with everybody in the opening night audience when Emma, Alyssa and the full company brought us to our feet singing “Time to Dance.”
WHEN: July 18-August 3, 2024
WHERE: Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas
WEB: uptownplayers.org
