"The Prom" - The perfect movie musical for the 2020 audience

Last night, my wife and I sat down and watched The Prom on Netflix. Given my love for the Broadway production and everyone involved with it, I had bittersweet feelings about the movie. But I went in with an open mind and ready to be entertained. And I’m glad I did because it was a joy to see this story and music brought to the screen.

I remarked to my wife, “this was the perfect movie musical for 2020.” She asked me what I meant by that.

Is it a perfect movie? No. It’s entertaining and moving and given the year we’ve had, it gives us a reason to smile. Especially given what 2020 was wrought upon us, I’m willing to overlook the film's flaws (which were honestly few).

So what worked? What could have used a bit of improvement? Let’s break it down. Let’s start with the latter. Warning, spoilers ahead.

What could have used fixing:

Nicole Kidman’s dancing

I’m willing to bet my house that after Netflix execs heard that Meryl Streep had signed on to The Prom, none of them said, “We think you need Nicole Kidman before we do this.” So it will boggle my mind as to why she’s in this movie. That’s not to say she’s terrible, I just think they could have gotten someone better. Someone who has a dance background that really could have drove home “Zazz”.

You have a character that’s supposed to be a veteran Fosse dancer and they film the entire sequence with tight shots on Kidman showing very little choreography. The moves they do show? Let’s just say it looks far from someone who is supposed to have the experience that Angie has.

Given the star power already attached, the creative team could have cast a trained dancer or Angie Schworer(who played the role on Broadway) and you would have had the same movie with a better “Zazz” number. Kidman’s fine, but this number is, interestingly enough, very important to Emma’s story and should have been much better.

Barry’s mom confrontation

Between the stage and screen, there were some changes to the script. I was expecting that. One big change though happened with Barry’s mom, inexplicably showing up to have him confront her for not being supportive when he came out. Barry’s mom was played by Tracey Ullman.

As a heterosexual male, I’ve never had to have this kind of conversation with my parents. So it’s not my place to comment on its significance or the scene’s authenticity. With that said, I don’t think it was needed in the screen adaptation. It felt like a forced moment for emotion’s sake(a Ryan Murphy special) and unnecessary since we get a similar moment later in the film with Alyssa and her mom(which got me choked up). I would go as far as saying that the rewriting of that moment with Alyssa was an improvement from the stage version.

So don’t get me wrong, I love Tracey Ullman, I just don’t think she was needed for this one.

Broadway Geography

The Prom isn’t the first movie to depict New York’s theatre district with creative geography. For some reason, the actual 44th St isn’t glitzy enough so filmmakers add theatres where they aren’t to make it look almost like the Las Vegas Strip.

To the average viewer, no one is going to notice or care. To the Broadway fan, this might drive them nuts.

Take a look at this shot for instance.

In reality, Sardi’s, The Music Box Theatre and the Imperial Theatre are all on different streets. You can also see part of the marquee of the Booth Theatre which is also in a different location.

Then there’s this shot.

All of these theatres are actually on different streets from one another. They even put Wicked in the Broadhurst Theatre when it’s been playing in the Gershwin Theatre from its opening.

So why did they do this? Beyond making Broadway look prettier, it probably had something to with producing rights and not allowing images of other theatres without permission or compensation. All of the theatres shown are part of the Shubert Organization which housed The Prom at the Longacre Theatre. If they were producing partners on the movie, why not try to get all of their theatres into the movie? Also, given that arrangement, it’s likely why they didn’t want to get into the red tape of having Nederlander or Jujamcyn properties in there. Although putting Wicked in their Broadhurst was a cheeky move.

But changes like these make my head spin because it’s so unnecessary, why go through all the CGI trouble to do it.

No Opinion

James Corden

A lot has been made of Corden’s casting as Barry. Many have called this another example of how casting non-gay males in gay roles can perpetuate stereotypes. And I’ll be honest, knowing that Corden is not a gay male made some of his choice uncomfortable to watch. It’s not my place to debate this since I am not a gay male, just as I woudn’t want a non-Asian person debating with me whether or not yellowface is okay. In any case, I wish you all could have seen Brooks Ashmanskas. He was truly a wonder in the role.

The Good

Representation all over the place

The story of The Prom is all about inclusion and I love that the creative team made sure that was followed through with its casting. If this is how films are going to be cast beyond 2020, sign me up.

I saw folks from every gender identity, multi-culturalism off the charts and people of all sizes have moments to shine. The girl who was front and center during the prom sequence of “Tonight Belongs to Us” was magnificent.

The casting

Let me state that I LOVE the original cast. This show was one of the most perfectly cast shows I’ve seen on Broadway in a long time. And while I’ll never love that they weren’t in the film, many of their Hollywood counterparts were great. Jo Ellen Pellman as Emma was great and a highlight of the movie. Meryl Streep is of course amazing and one of two people I would want to see play that role if not Beth Leavel. The other is Christine Baranski.

The music

I love the music in this show and it sounded great. I burst into tears during the overture at the opening titles. I burst into tears during ‘Unruly Heart’. I burst into tears during “It’s Tim to Dance”. I burst into tears a lot during this movie. It’s 2020. Leave me alone.

But seriously, I know why Anaïs Mitchell won the Tony for Best Score for Hadestown but that doesn’t take anything about from the fabulous job that Chad Beguelin & Matthew Sklar did here.

All in all, The Prom is a fun time. Sit back and enjoy.