A review of the new musical movie “The Prom”
I confess that musicals are not my thing, whether on the stage or in the movies, but the year of the global pandemic has meant that there have been so few new films released that I was ready to give this a go. I further confess that I’d never heard of the Broadway musical of which this is an adaptation by Ryan Murphy, the creative brains behind the television series “Glee”.
But I rather enjoyed the film and, if musicals are your thing, you’ll probably love it. I say probably because the movie has had its critics.
It’s a simple, if uplifting and liberal, story of the efforts of four out-of-work actors in New York who decide to intervene to reverse the decision of a bigoted PTA at a school in Indiana to ban the annual prom because one girl wants to bring along another girl as her partner for the night. They plan to “change the world one lesbian at a time”.
Some commentators have been hard on Britain’s James Corden for his American accent and for playing a gay character when he is actually straight. But I enjoyed his performance and Meryl Streep is brilliant as a fellow thespian, while Nicole Kidman is always value and newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman is delightful as the girl at the centre of the storm. Of the four main gay roles, three are played by actors who are out as queer, including Pellman and her co-star Ariana DeBose which is commendably inclusive casting.
It’s big, it’s brash and, if you want two hours of forgetting about the coronavirus, go for it.