On May 17th, The Prom opened up at Wheelock Family Theatre, and it is something you must get to! The Prom is the story of Emma Nolan who seems to be fighting against all odds to get the chance to take her girlfriend to their high school prom. She gets help from some unexpected friends as they try to change the opinions of their town of Edgewater Indiana and learn to respect and love each other exactly the way that they are. The Prom is currently running at Wheelock Family Theatre in Boston until June 8th.
The Prom was a Broadway musical that ran on Broadway from November 15th 2018 to August 11th 2019. The book was written by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin. Chad Beguelin also worked on the lyrics for this show while Matthew Sklar did the music. The original concept of the whole musical was by Jack Viertel. At Wheelock Family Theatre, the show is directed and choreographed by Larry Souza and the music is directed by Jordan Oczkowski. The Prom is about four Broadway stars who travel to Edgewater, Indiana to try to prove they are not narcissists by helping out Emma Nolan. At school, Emma is being publicly shamed and punished by the school’s PTA for wanting to bring her girlfriend to the school’s prom. The show runs promptly for two hours and twenty five minutes, which includes a fifteen minute intermission.
Though the cast of The Prom gets almost an equal amount of stage time, making the show more of an ensemble show than anything, the real heart of the show is Siri Manju as she portrays Emma Nolan. Siri carries you through the story effortlessly making you feel all the right emotions along with her. Siri is the perfect Emma, she has you rooting and feeling sorry for her from the first moment she steps on the stage. Siri’s voice is like butter, smoothly gliding into the audience’s ears. Siri really made you feel during the end of Act 1, not to give away any spoilers; a major scandal goes down at the end of the act and Siri makes you feel almost moving you to tears and wanting you to get up and fight with her. A major highlight for me was when Siri sang Emma’s first number “Just Breathe”. It was the first time the audience heard her voice and everyone immediately tuned in as they listened to her sing.
The group of broadway stars trying to make a change are Maureen Keiller (Dee Dee Allen), Janis Hudson (Angie Dickinson), Darvon S. Monroe (Barry Glickman) and Elias Robles (Trent Oliver). These four have you laughing from the very beginning as they are introduced right as their musical gets their closing notice. Each star has their own fire and personality that make them different, bringing joy to the audience. Every time one of them enters the stage you know you are in for a good laugh, particularly with Monroe or Robles. Elias Robles leads the teen ensemble in the show stopping-number of “Love Thy Neighbor” making you laugh and bringing a smile onto your face. Darvon S. Monroe also proceeded to receive a loud applause for “Barry is Going to Prom”, the crowd was cheering as the loveable star pranced around the stage giddy at the thought of finally being able to attend Prom.
The principal of the Indiana high school called played by the wonderful David Jiles Jr. Over the past summer, I had the privilege to perform under David’s direction so I was very excited to get to see him perform and he absolutely did not disappoint. David played the loveable, good-hearted Principal Hawkins who had you feeling for him in every minute of the show. David got to share his love of theater through the song “We Look to You” as Principal Hawkins explains to Dee Dee Allen his love for broadway and why normal people look up to performers. As a fellow performer myself, I really felt this song.
Emma’s girlfriend was played by the great Annie Parrinello (Alyssa Green), who had you feeling her nerves and anxiety while silently rooting for her throughout the whole entire show. A highlight was when Annie sang Alyssa’s iconic song “Alyssa Green” explaining her whole life to Emma and the reason behind all her actions and her drive to impress her mother. The teen ensemble was another standout in the show bringing animation and life to every scene they were a part of. The ensemble really brought Larry Souza’s choreography to life making the dancing one of the highlights of the show for me.
Overall I really loved this production of The Prom and I thought that it was very nicely done. The sets and costumes made the show visually pleasing for everyone in the audience. The only thing that was disappointing was the lack of audience. The theater was maybe only filled up to 30% if even, it was really upsetting to see such a well produced show go almost unseen. So please, go see this good quality and affordable piece of community theater. If you attend the show on a matinee you get to experience a red carpet day and meet all the actors and actresses, they all take their time to talk and sign your playbill.
So what are you waiting for? Buy your tickets using this link!
https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/performances/current-season/the-prom/
