The PTA is upset because the school is going against “community standards”.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – but don’t, because you probably haven’t. The Prom, currently at the Fox, probably wasn’t intended as quite such a contemporary protest against They’re-Not-Like-Us thinkers. But it turns out to be. It’s not a perfect show. But, good grief, is it fun!
It opens on a cast party on opening night for a musical about Eleanor Roosevelt (yes), all glitter and laughter as they wait on the early reviews. When The New York Times pretty much eviscerates them, the show closes immediately, leaving the cast at loose ends. For reasons that are less than altruistic, they decide they will go to a small town in Indiana where a prom has been canceled because of homophobia. They will set those people, uh, unstraight.
The show is full of show-biz cliches – the diva, the wildly un-closeted gay man, the agent tearing his hair out – but it all fits perfectly. Despite the delay in opening The Prom here because of cast COVID problems, and substitutions to what’s in the program, things opening night seemed extremely smooth. The boldface names were understudies that went on. Ashley Bruce is Dee Dee Allen, the biggish-name diva who’s now unemployed. Is there anything at all beneath her cooly driven exterior and her ego? A subtle, strong performance. Barry Glickman, who was Franklin to Dee Dee’s Eleanor, comes to us via Patrick Wetzel. Wetzel is a particular delight, mugging and hoofing his way through adversity. Coming to Indiana with them are Angie Dickinson (no, not that one), played by Emily Borromeo, with a sad story about her time in the cast of Chicago, and, Jordan Alexander as Trent Oliver, who never lets anyone, including the high school students, forget he went to Julliard. Good stuff, too, from both of them. (The photo above shows Patrick Wetzel and Emily Borromeo. Courtney Balan in the glittery gown and Bud Weber in the waiter's jacket, also shown, were not able to perform opening night.)
The young, out student Emma is Kaden Kearney, quiet and sad and angry – even their singing voice reflects their stress. Their main ally is the high school principal, played by Christopher McCrewell, the sort of school administrator some of us knew and some of us could only dream of. Mitchell carries it off with elan. Their nemesis is the head of the PTA, here Ashanti J’Aria, strong but not shrill despite her fingers-in-the-ears approach to things.
It’s a very funny show, with jokes that are both expected and un-, like a reference to Indiana sugar pie. Much of that is due to director Casey Nicholaw’s pacing of things. He also choreographed the show, and the snappy dancing is a great contribution to the fun. Scott Pask’s scenic design runs from a faux Sardi’s to a monster truck rally and handles it all perfectly, especially the motel. And a particular shout-out to Josh Marquette whose hair design gives us both the good stuff and the awful, the latter being some of the high school girls’ hair. Hazardous duty pay for both Marquette and the actors is suggested.
And just by the way, there’s a lot of St. Louis connections here. Among the producers are Jack Lane, Terry Schnuck, Ken and Nancy Kranzberg and Fox Associates.
Tolerance. Acceptance. We all belong. Pretty radical stuff these days. A satisfying two hours and 25 minutes.
The Prom
through February 6
Fox Theatre
527 N. Grand Blvd.
314-534-1111
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