Ryan Murphy brings the broadway hit ‘The Prom’ to streaming giant Netflix, and in a year without live musicals, getting to enjoy one -albeit at home is more than welcome. Murphy “gets by with a little help from his big star friends – Meryl Strep, Nicole Kidman, musical-to-movie mainstay James Corden, surprisingly sexy if he wants to be Keegan Michael-Key, Andrew Rannells, who I enjoyed watching on ‘The New Normal’ and Kerry Washington, playing a conservative and controlling mom from a small town in Indiana.
The film’s young cast also hold on their own, even if they are working veteran and more experienced actors, delivering their own impressive performances. Jo Ellen Pellmen who plays Emma, a lesbian who just wants to bring her girlfriend to prom.
Said girlfriend is Alyssa Greene, daughter to Kerry Washington’s character, and is played by Ariana De Bose. Oh, did we mention that Alyssa’s mom is also head of the PTA? Gasp! Oh, yes high school and small-town drama are very much present.
While the girl’s relationship is still a secret, with the plan for a big reveal to be during their prom-the PTA has other plans. Clutching on their pearls and crying “small town Christian values” the PTA decides on cancelling the prom. This is how the film opens, a controversial ruling on cancelling Prom in order to stop a girl from bringing the girl she loves to a dance.
While this is all goinig on in Indiana, on Broadway, all the way in New York, a group of failed actors and actresses led by Mery Streep are looking for a cause, they can get behind, to give them good publicity. Enter Emma’s dilema and the crew, composing of Streep, Corden, Kidman and Rannells head to Indiana to rally behind Emma’s cause.
What follows is a spectacle of song and dance, dramatic camera sweeps that make it ideal to watch in a wide screen, the widest screen possible! And I am definitely lucky to have been able to see the film in all of the 55″ glory of the Samsung Crystal UHD TV, I was really able to appreciate the production numbers-the light and the panache, wanted to get up and to start singing and dancing myself.
Make sure to check your bigotry and intolerance at the door, ‘The Prom’ is going to be pretty straighforward with its themes of inclusivity and is not afraid to go straight and tackle religion with a very interesting song about cherry picking bible verses and reminding us that Jesus did say that the “loving they neighbor” is the greatest rule and trumps them (rules) all. The movie can be pretty in your face with its message and themes but I guess that’s the musical side of it talking. There is nothing subtle about it, its pretty straight to the point. Now, the film may not be for everybody, but I thought that it was inspiring. It’s nice to see more “coming out stories” (also see Netflix’s ‘Half Of It’) -and ‘The Prom’ has song and dance in it plus Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman’s crazy antelope legs!
Another thing that I liked about the film was its care to feature many of its characters, their different struggles and journeys. So it was a pretty packed viewing, which I didn’t mind. I was entertained well enough. Among my many group chats of movies and popculture, one friend seemed surprised that I appreciated ‘The Prom’ – he’s bisexual and his reaction to my enjoying ‘The Prom’ that even straight folks can appreciate it. And I thought, well I have empathy, I am an ally and I was more than happy to see stories like these come to film and yes, even the theater. Coming from an all girls school run by a religious order of nuns I can easily see how the events of the film can actually happen in real life. I’m sure some of my batchmates would have opted to wear a tux instead of a gown and would have rather had a different date on that night. So I think its nice that the film helps raise this issue, to have a “prom for all” -where you can dress however you want and you can bring whoever you want to bring and not to have to abide by customs practiced and observed long before they were even born.
I think that if the pandemic taught us anything, its to learn to enjoy the things that really matter, and for some it’s as simple as music and love. Now, there may be a few hurdles along the way but with a little courage and a lot of zazz we can all live our own truths, it may take some time for everyone to accept it but one baby step at a time is a big achievement and the most important step actually begins with you.
Live you truth. Sing your own song and dance your own dance and that will make you the King or Queen of a prom for all.
‘The Prom’ is now streaming on Netflix.