THE PROM
Music by Matthew Sklar
Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin
Based on an original concept by Jack Viertel
Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw
7 Tony® Award Nominations including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book
Winner of 2019 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical
New York Times Critics’ Pick
Variety Best of 2018
Broadway.com #1 Show of 2018
World Premiere: Alliance Theatre (Atlanta) - September 7, 2016
Broadway Premiere: Longacre Theatre - November 15, 2018
Press
By Jesse Green
CRITICS’ PICK! “The Prom begins when a theater critic for The New York Times writes a pan so poisonous that the show he’s reviewing dies on the spot. That’s ridiculous. It could never happen. At any rate, it won’t happen now, because The Prom, which opened on Thursday at the Longacre Theater, is such a joyful hoot. With its kinetic dancing, broad mugging and belty anthems, it makes you believe in musical comedy again.”
By Frank Rizzo
“It seems like a dubious musical mash-up: Broadway narcissists-turned-activists take over a middle-American town to help a lesbian teen who just wants to bring her date to the prom. But with a tuneful score, a playful book, and performances that remind you what Broadway heart and chutzpah are all about, this cause celebre of a show turns out to be a joyous, funny, and sweet production that should appeal to several generations of musical fans. Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”) and Chad Beguelin (“Aladdin”) wrote the lively, tender, big-laugh book — based on an original concept by Jack Viertel — for the musical that premiered at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater two years ago. It’s a 21st century “Bye Bye Birdie,” with showbiz interlopers causing havoc before finding their better selves — but re-imagined with a millennial slant and an echo of “Dear Evan Hansen” empowerment.”
By David Cote
“The tag line: Broadway Boomers try to save prom for a millennial lesbian who is totally embarrassed by them. A good premise executed well is the formula that wins here.”
By Terry Teachout
“The Prom will make you laugh—I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a new musical—and it will also fill you with the toasty-warm glow of unchallenged righteousness. That’s a surprising combination, especially nowadays.”
Newsweek
By Joe Westerfeld
“The Prom is a laugh-inducing juggernaut. That said, no drinks should be allowed at the seats during the performance: The risk of spit takes here is much too great.”
By Roma Torre
“When The Prom begins, you might think you wandered into the wrong show. The scene is the opening night party for a new Broadway play and the stars are just getting around to reading the reviews. They’re bad of course, really bad. And so the two stars and a pair of actor friends decide they need a good cause to buoy their sinking careers. They settle on the case of a high school senior in a small Indiana town that’s refusing to let her bring her girlfriend to the prom. The four thespians swoop in thinking they’re actually going to change the conservative minds in the town, and naturally, chaos ensues. Hysterical chaos. It’s a zany concept, but book writers Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, who also wrote the lyrics alongside composer Matthew Sklar, have devised a witty and joyful romp that also happens to be quite moving. The songs are mighty tuneful; and the show's winking theatrical references are a delightful bonus. ”
We’ve got trouble, folks, right here in Indiana and when Broadway’s brassiest hear a student is unceremoniously sidelined from a small-town Indiana prom – and the press is involved – they are ready to kick-ball-change the world. A new musical comedy about the power of love (and a good 11 o’clock number), THE PROM is about so much more than just a dance.
By Sara Holdren
“The giddy, smart, big-hearted new musical The Prom has arrived on Broadway after a much-praised 2016 run at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, but really, it’s always been here. Its story begins at the glitzy opening-night party of a self-serious Broadway biomusical called (what else) Eleanor!–The Eleanor Roosevelt Musical. The show’s stars prance and preen, confident not only in their artistic genius but in the knowledge that they’re nightly “changing lives.” It’s all champagne and finger food and air kisses until—dun dun dunnnn!—the Times review comes in. Faced with a brutal show-closing pan (it even includes that damning favorite arrow in the critical quiver: misguided), the devastated actors need a new stunt: something that will raise their spirits and their profiles. Then, eureka! “I know how we can still love ourselves, but appear to be decent human beings,” declares Drama Desk-winner Barry Glickman (Brooks Ashmanskas), whose FDR has just been called “offensive and laughable” in the paper of record: “We’ll become celebrity activists!” I had already been giggling, but Barry’s fervent resolution—delivered as if he were about to mount the Les Mis barricade—produced one of those cackles that makes other audience members notice me. This particular tree is ripe for shaking, and The Prom sets about its parodic business with mischievous brio and, importantly, real affection. With irrepressibly energetic tunes by Matthew Sklar and winking lyrics by Chad Beguelin (the duo behind The Wedding Singer), and a cheeky, just-poignant-enough book by Beguelin and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), The Prom has that same lovingly satirical spirit as Chaperone, or as another of Martin’s co-creations, the brilliant Canadian TV series Slings and Arrows. Beth Leavel, who won a Tony for her performance in The Drowsy Chaperone’s title role, is doing deliciously funny work as Barry’s fellow narcissist (and star of Eleanor!), an actress called Dee Dee Allen, and Chaperone’s director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw infuses the proceedings with his signature high-energy effervescence.”
By David Rooney
“The legitimately funny book is co-written by Bob Martin, who won a Tony Award (as did Leavel) for his work in the same capacity on The Drowsy Chaperone; and Chad Beguelin, who penned Disney's Aladdin, another Nicholaw musical. The two-pronged score, which has distinct styles for the Hoosier teens and the Manhattanite interlopers, is by composer Matthew Sklar, with clever lyrics by Beguelin; the two last teamed on yet another Nicholaw show, Elf. Any musical that makes it to Broadway these days without a familiar movie source or a popular jukebox score is an achievement, so this original story is a rainbow unicorn that wins points right there. And Nicholaw's handle on musical comedy is unimpeachable, taking as much care with the little character details and peripheral action as he does with the splashy musical statements.”
By Christopher Kelly
“MVP credit here goes to Nicholaw, who not only moves the show along at an exuberant clip and keeps the tone balanced between sincerity and self-referentiality, but also serves up some of the mostly deceptively sophisticated, purely entertaining choreography of any recent Broadway musical. In the show's dance sequences, the performers -- younger and older alike -- move with an uncontainable, unrelenting sense of joy and energy. Their good vibes come cascading through the audience, helping to make "The Prom" arguably the happiest show around.”
By Adam Feldman
“Though it teases Broadway, The Prom has the appealing scrappiness of a party thrown by the theater community for itself, and nowhere is this celebration more joyous than in the deliciously hammy performances of its two seasoned stars, who take over-the-top to dizzying heights. The hilarious Ashmanskas never seems more than a hop, skip and jump away from actually hopping, skipping and jumping, and Leavel churns her big number, a pastiche called “The Lady’s Improving,” into pure showtune butter.”