BWW Blog: The Prom on Netflix

I watched the Prom on Netflix and I was blown away by the production value. While I would've liked to have seen some of the original cast, the big names really blew me away. I had never heard Nicole Kidman sing at all and I can already say she'll be getting calls about Broadway roles after the Zazz number. I liked that each big name cast member got a number in the show but it didn't feel overwhelming, like it was their show. I had forgotten since Mamma Mia that Meryl Streep had an amazing singing voice, and my favorite number of hers was The Lady's Improving. Also, can we talk about the fact that Keegan Michael Key had a number and can sing? One of his lines that really stuck with me was "A distraction is momentary. An escape helps you heal."

From the moment the show started, you knew it was Jo Ellen's show from the start. I love her songs and while they're sung by a character who is gay, they're universal when it comes to their message, like Just Breathe, or Unruly Heart. I thought it was funny how Andrew Rannells title number "Love Thy Neighbor," bore a resemblance to his iconic role of Elder Price on Broadway.

The live film adaptation in my opinion is the thing us musical theatre geeks have been waiting for all of quarantine. Ever since Hamilton, I've noticed how much even non-musical theatre majors/lovers are wanting filmed musicals. On TikTok, I've seen numerous videos editing the Hamilton audio that I can't get out of my head like "Thomas.... Where have you been? Uhhh I'm in the cabinet..... Can you get out?..... No!"

And based on recent news, it sounds like our cries have been answered. This past week, there were numerous specials like The Grinch (which is a blog post for another time), the NBC Broadway special (ICONIC), and a filmed concert version of Newsies I watched run by the student run musical theatre group at Michigan called Musket. Almost 1,000 people tuned into the premiere that was only up for a mere four hours. Speaking of Michigan, three of the leading cast members of the Prom were either graduates of the musical theatre program or current students! Sofia Deler played one of the cheerleaders in the movie and is a current sophomore musical theatre major at the University of Michigan. Before The Prom, she was (in my world) most known for her Jimmy Award win back in 2017. Ariana DeBose is another graduate of Michigan and was most recently seen in Hamilton as the Bullet/Ensemble.

I would ask for more film adaptations, but it seems all the ones I can think of have already been accounted for! Look out for Enchanted, Dear Evan Hansen and In The Heights coming out in the next year or so! I'm most excited for the Dear Evan Hansen movie after reading the book, and having not seen the live musical yet.

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