Interview: Mary Callanan is Back in Boston for THE PROM

Broadway bookings and national tours have kept local theater performer Mary Callanan away from home a lot in the past dozen years.

After putting that time to good use, expanding her fan base from Boston to Broadway and beyond, Callanan is back home now. And she's living it up as diva Dee Dee Allen in the SpeakEasy Stage production of "The Prom," playing May 5 through June 10 in the Roberts Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts.

"Dee Dee is the poster child for narcissistic, egotistical Broadway actresses," said Callanan with a laugh by telephone recently from her home in Weymouth, Massachusetts. "I love Dee Dee. She's worked really hard to get where she is and has two Tony Awards to show for it. She has all the tools needed to be a Broadway star, but that doesn't mean she's always a kind human being."

Callanan has some experience appearing onstage with Broadway leading ladies, including Beth Leavel - a 2006 Tony Award winner for "The Drowsy Chaperone" - who originated the role of Dee Dee in the 2018 Broadway production of "The Prom."

"In real life, Beth is not at all like Dee Dee, except that they're both hilarious and have tremendous talent and determination," explains Callanan. "I'm 99 percent sure that this role was written for her. When she played Dee Dee, though, it was all acting because Beth is actually open-hearted, kind, and sweet."

Based on an original concept by Jack Viertel, "The Prom" is the tale of Emma, a young Indiana teen who makes news when she announces that she wants to take her girlfriend, Alyssa, to their high school prom. Just when it seems like she might get the PTA to agree, four publicity-hungry has-beens head from Broadway to Indiana to put a spotlight on the issue, and on themselves.

With lyrics by Chad Beguelin, a book by Beguelin and Bob Martin, and music by Matthew Sklar, "The Prom" had a 2016 tryout at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, before officially opening at Broadway's Longacre Theatre on November 15, 2018. A film version of "The Prom," produced and directed by Ryan Murphy, was released on Netflix in 2020, starring Meryl Streep as Dee Dee.

The SpeakEasy production will be directed by Paul Daigneault, the company's founder and producing artistic director, with choreography by Taavon Gamble and music direction by Paul S. Katz.

Joining Dee Dee on her journey are Trent Oliver (Jared Troilo), a full-of-himself Juilliard grad who, when not on a bus-and-truck tour can usually be found busing tables, and Angie Dickinson (Lisa Yuen), not the one of "Police Woman" fame, but rather a chorus girl who has never found fame.

Completing the foursome is Barry Glickman, Dee Dee's close friend and sometime co-star, played by Johnny Kuntz. While Kuntz and Callanan are both stalwarts on Boston stages, "The Prom" marks only the second time they've been paired professionally.

"We haven't shared a stage until now, but we worked together in the box office of the theater at the Church of All Nations in Bay Village when 'Late Nite Catechism' was playing there a thousand years ago," recalls the Brighton-born Callanan. "I knew I liked him right off. Johnny was from the legitimate theater and I was a musical comedy performer."

Callanan says the palpable onstage rapport she has with Kuntz is no surprise to her.

"Without hesitation, I knew from the moment we were cast that I could work with Johnny Kuntz. The reason we're perfect together as a team is that we each have certain strengths. And when they're put together, we become unstoppable.

"Johnny has everything I could ever want in a scene partner," says Callanan. "He's one of those people who, when you throw him the ball, catches it and throws it back. He'll also do whatever it takes to get a laugh, which I love."

The song-and-dance woman also has high praise for co-stars Liesie Kelly and Abriel Coleman, who play the young same-sex couple at the heart of the story.

"Liesie and Abriel are truly sensational. They are astonishing, really. They're both just that good," says Callanan. "They haven't even graduated from college yet, but they already have acting credits. They couldn't be more terrific in this show."

The promising performers may want to turn to Callanan for career advice. After all, she has toured Asia with Marie Osmond in "The Sound of Music" and appeared in road companies of "Big," "Damn Yankees," and "Cinderella," sit-down Boston runs of "Nunsense" and "Menopause: The Musical," and numerous local productions.

In 2010, Callanan landed the featured role of Rosie ("Take a Chance on Me") in the North American tour of "Mamma Mia!" Not long after that, she was cast in her first Broadway show when she joined the 2012 revival of "Annie," as Mrs. Pugh.

When "Annie" closed in 2014, she was cast in a new company of "Mamma Mia!" at the Tropicana Las Vegas and then, when that production wrapped, moved to the Broadway production of the ABBA jukebox musical.

After originating the role of Jean Ann Ryan in the new musical "Bandstand," which also featured Leavel, on Broadway in 2017, Callanan went on to appear as Marge in the first national tour of "The Bridges of Madison County." Most recently, she was on the road again in the first leg of the North American tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady."

After "The Prom," Callanan will head to Beverly to play Frau Schmidt in "The Sound of Music," July 11-23 at North Shore Music Theatre.

Until then, she'll be in "The Prom," with the words of Beth Leavel in her head.

"After I saw Beth in 'The Prom' on Broadway, she told me, 'I've never been more tired. I am exhausted, but it's worth it,'" recalls Callanan. "Now I want to call her and say, 'You weren't wrong.'"

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