By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Emma just wants to go to the prom… with her girlfriend.
The school board in her Indiana hometown has other ideas — gay couples are not welcome. It would make the other students uncomfortable.
When a group of Broadway performers, all on the downside of their careers, hear about this on Twitter, they decide to step into action, and “Change Lives,” all in hopes of reversing their professional decline.
Local audiences have been invited to “The Prom” by 3B Productions. The show, “The Prom” with book and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, book by Bob Martin, music by Matthew Sklar all based on a concept by Jack Viertel, opens tonight (Oct. 11) at 8 and continues Saturday at 8 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. at the Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant St, Maumee. The musical is directed by Joe Barton and produced by Jesse Bernal with musical direction by Janine Baughman, and choreography by Bob Marzola. Click for tickets.
Like any prom “The Prom” has plenty of energetic dancing and singing, though in this case with a well-buffed sheen.
The plot was ripped from the headlines — it draws its inspiration from a similar case in Mississippi. But being based on news, doesn’t mean it hews close to reality.
Most of the characters are broadly drawn for comic effect.
The cheerleaders (Ellie Kujawa and Mikayla Trimpey) are catty and bullies. And the PTA president Mrs. Greene (Betsy Bellavia) is rigid and close-minded, as are her constituents.
Then there’s our quartet of Broadway buffoons who are on the road to Has-been-ville. Dee Dee Allen (Lydia Schafer) captures their attitude perfectly. When told that people hated her, and her co-star Barry Glickman (Jacob Toth) because they are narcissists, she asks: What’s that? When told what it means, she responds: That’s bad?
We meet them after opening night of a musical about Eleanor Roosevelt, with Dee Dee as the title character and Barry as the president. The reviews tear into their performances and end the show’s run. Along with Trent (Brock Burkett) and Angie (Courtney Austin), they hitch a ride to Indiana with a Godspell bus tour. Their long-suffering publicist Sheldon (Matt Badyna) accompanies them.
Caught in the middle is Emma who just wants to go to the prom with her girlfriend. One of the complications is that her girlfriend Alyssa (Riley Runnells) is not out yet — that will happen at the prom, if the prom ever happens.
That’s very much in doubt because of both the efforts of the PTA, and Emma’s supposed allies.
She does have the support from the nebbish well-meaning principal Mr. Hawkins (Alec Simon) who despite his lack of flair has a sense of what may be effective.
Emma is at the heart of the production. As she first appears, you may think her mousey, unassuming, no match for the glitter Broadway or even the bullying cheerleaders. But she has inner strength and knows what she wants, and how she wants to achieve it. This despite the complication that her girlfriend is the daughter of Mrs. Greene.
Emma almost crumbles under the onslaught of nastiness, and deception. But she takes matters into her own hands.
Petrie does a stunning job of commanding the stage even as her character seems to relish the shadows. She has a strong, expressive voice that delivers her character’s aspirations in “Just Breathe.” When she and Alyssa anticipate going the prom together in “Dance with Me,” their joy of being together is palpable.
In the intimate “Unruly Heart,” Emma pours out her heart on social media, and turns the tide.
This is her idea after she has rejected going on TV.
The depth of her feelings outshines the glitz of the Broadway stars.
Each of them gets a number. Barry in recalls the heartbreak of not going to the prom himself and his excitement of going with Emma in “Barry’s Going to The Prom.”
Dee Dee strikes up a relationship with Mr. Hawkins (Alec Simon), who is a lifelong fan. When he calls her on her selfishness, she tries to get back in his good graces with the sultry and ingratiating “The Lady’s Improving.”
Angie, who has spent years in the chorus of “Chicago,” sings the “ All That Jazz” knock-off “Zazz,” encouraging Emma to liven up her message.
Trent delivers a pivotal number “Neighborly Love.” Trent, much to the chagrin of his fellow actors, is actually the only one people in Indiana recognize because of his role in a sit-com “Talk to the Hand.”
In what seems like a recipe for disaster he approaches the students in a coffee shop. He explains to them that they and their parents are not as faithful followers of Biblical teaching as they purport to be. Trent reminds them in brassy gospel style with a boost from the Godspell cast about the commandment above all others: “Love Thy Neighbor.”
In the end, these broad stereotypes are imbued with some humanity.
The show highlights the difference between self absorption and self esteem.
And Emma and Alyssa, get to attend the prom together and with the entire cast celebrate that “It’s Time to Dance.”
