Diane and I saw The Prom at Shea’s Performing Arts Center with an almost sold-out audience. Plenty of teenagers!
The Prom is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Bob Martin and Beguelin, based on an original concept by Jack Viertel. When their play flops on Broadway two aging actors decide to generate positive publicity when they travel to the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana, to help a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to high school prom.
The culture clash between the conservative parents and the liberal actors generate much of the story. You can pretty much guess how this all turns out. Very predictable. The best song is “Unruly Heart” about Love works. There was a Netflix version of The Prom that we didn’t see. The Prom is a mildly entertaining musical. What do you remember about your Prom? GRADE: B
Musical numbers:
| Act I “Changing Lives” – Dee Dee, Barry, Ensemble” Changing Lives” (Reprise) – Dee Dee, Barry, Angie, Trent “Just Breathe” – Emma “It’s Not About Me” – Dee Dee, Barry, Angie, Trent, Ensemble “Dance with You” – Emma, Alyssa “The Acceptance Song” – Trent, Dee Dee, Barry, Angie, Ensemble “You Happened” – Emma, Alyssa, Kevin, Nick, Ensemble “We Look to You” – Mr. Hawkins “Tonight Belongs to You” – Barry, Emma, Mrs. Greene, Ashley, Mandy, Ensemble | Act II Entr’acte – Orchestra “Zazz” – Angie, Emma “The Lady’s Improving” – Dee Dee “Love Thy Neighbor” – Trent, Ensemble “Alyssa Greene” – Alyssa “Barry Is Going to Prom” – Barry “Unruly Heart” – Emma, Ensemble “It’s Time to Dance” – Emma, Alyssa, Company |
I never went to the prom. I was shy and never talked to girls in high school and none ever showed any interest in me. Other than that this sounds like something you couldn’t pay me to see.
Steve, I went to three Proms with three different girls. But, I’ll always regret not asking Diane to the Prom.
I might look at the Netflix version. My Honolulu HS had a sophomore luau which I attended, and that was enough…neither junior nor senior prom had much appeal. It was notable how many more young women were attracted to me in higher ed than ever were in the years after about second grade. Severe acne starting about age 9 didn’t help, to be sure. (I was in the last generation before effective anti-acne medication.)
Todd, I remember my dermatologist zapping me with ultraviolet treatments for acne. Not very effective, but expensive. Years later, I was diagnosed with rosacea and treated with Accutane which worked great. But, because of lawsuits against Accutane, I was taken off of it and put on low dose doxycycline which puts my rosacea in a holding pattern.
My first dermatologist, in 1980 in Kailua, HI, would spray my face with cold carbon dioxide and prescribed me antibiotics, to no good end, as well. I did get to read John Simon’s film column in the NATIONAL REVIEWs he kept in his waiting room. (I have to wonder if the antiobiotics did more harm than good to my adolescent self.) (My folks were remarkably good at finding bad doctors and sticking with them.)
Todd, I was put on antibiotics in my teens, too. The effect on my acne was minimal. But, as time went by, the number of allergies I developed increased. I always thought there might be a link between the useless antibiotics and my allergies.
At my high school in the 1970s, both juniors and seniors went to the prom, so I went to both (1974 & 1975). When we were clearing out my parents’ house after my mom died, I found my prom picture from 1975. I had long red hair and six-inch platform shoes. Good times! Having ushered three daughters through their proms in the past few years (and working in a high school), I can tell you that so much more goes into the prom today—time, money, and planning. It’s almost like preparing for a mini-wedding: dresses, accessories, hair, makeup. Ah well, you’re only young once.
And then there’s what the girls have to do to prepare! Tip your waitstaff…
Deb, Patrick and Katie’s Proms, vastly different than mine, featured limos and extravagant outfits. And, you’re right about the expense!
Happy Birthday, Deb!
Happy natal!
The less said about my prom the better. I was a shy, awkward, socially inept kid in high school who, thanks to the miracle of the passage of time, am the shy, awkward, socially inept geezer I now am.
Jerry, but you’ve turned into a suave blog commentator!
My Christian High School didn’t have proms but banquets. I went to them and to proms at local public/Catholic high schools. I loved them but I loved dancing. Most of the boys did not though.
Patti, most boys don’t like dancing because they don’t know how to dance and don’t want to look clumsy trying to do it.
I remember my junior high prom. There were two schools next to each other, an elementary school (not the one I went to) and the junior high, with a big yard in between. The prom was outdoors in the yard. If my high school had a prom – it probably did – I did not go to it. We had 1200 in our graduating class. (I was #54)
I did NOT go out with any girls in high school, though I did during the summers at camp and then at a couple of bungalow colonies.
Not a very happy time, high school.
George, Jackie wants to know if the three proms were at three different schools or what.
Jeff, two of the Proms were at different schools: mine and a Catholic girls school. My third Prom happened a year later when I came home from College to take the senior I was dating at the time to her Prom.
As for THE PROM, it closed before we got to see it on Broadway. But we did watch the Netflix version and were underwhelmed. After some of the rave reviews we’d read about the show, we were disappointed. You’re right, “mildly entertaining” says it all. With Meryl Streep and James Corden, I expected better.
Jeff, Katie saw the Broadway version and loved it.
I never went to a prom either, Steve. Judging from all the drama surrounding it, I didn’t miss anything.
I took Accutane three times and it was VERY helpful. However, the third time I had to sign something saying I wouldn’t sue them.
I did see it on Broadway; it was enjoyable.
Beth, Accutane worked great and I miss its effectiveness. Katie enjoyed THE PROM on Broadway, too!
I’ve read about proms, but my question:
How old were you then?
In Germany high school aka Gymnasium ends at 18/19 years – and then you go straight to university (or military service first …) 60 years ago.
I remember a dancing course, half a year long, where you were paired with girls, learned folk dances, Waltzer, Foxtrot and even Rumba or Samba and also learned to behave – like opening the door for a girl/woman, being nice, not using some words …
Wolf, I’d say your average senior in high school is 18, some are 17. (I was 16.)
Wolf, I was 18 when I went to my first two Proms, 19 for the third. Somehow going to the Prom became a milestone event in America. It has only grown in importance…and expense!
Most US high school seniors are 17 when they begin the school year…as an August baby, I was 17 at time of graduation in June. We never had social graces classes in my public nor private school–a Whole Lot of US parents would not approve, no matter how they were approached. My elementary school phyiscal education did include square dancing briefly in Hazardville/Enfield, Connecticut, which was amusingly awkward for all the fourth-graders (age 10, mostly) (I did take salsa lessons briefly with Alice, and we were not quite naturals, though it was fun in a small way, ca. 1998…my dancing has tended to be Very improvisational in other contexts, and often in response to jazz in my teens.)(It would be hard to call it what dancers call jazz dancing, however) .
Sorry, I was 10yo, so that was fifth grade when my fellow Hazardvillian kids and I were do-si-do-ing. (Most USians begin grade school when they’ve turned 6.)