Hi Guys! How are you? I’m doing great! Now as some of you may know, originally this blog was an outlet where i shared my opinions about some of my favourite books and reviewed them, but a couple days ago i had a really cool idea… what if i changed my blog into a site where I didn’t just do reviews of books but also shared my opinions on musical theatre and Broadway! So this is what the blog is permanently going to be from now on. Today’s blog post is going to be about my reaction to THE PROM movie that came out yesterday! I hope you enjoy!
Okay, so if any of you are big fans of musical theatre and Broadway you would know that there had been rumours of the Tony award winning musical, THE PROM turning into a Netflix movie. Well, apparently those rumours were correct because just yesterday it came out on Netflix! Now when I heard that THE PROM was turning into a movie i was a bit sceptical. Turning a huge modern musical into a Netflix movie seemed like a very bold choice to make, however when i heard the cast of the movie to be, my opinion totally changed. The cast included Jo Ellen Pellman, Nicole Kidman (yes! I know i was very excited when i heard that), Ariana Debose (who is a Broadway actress. She played The Bullet in the original version of Hamilton), Meryl Streep (yes Ms. Streep has made an appearance) James Corden and many others! Although the cast seemed amazing to me, what really made me excited was when i heard that Ryan Murphy was directing it! I am a huge fan of his, because he directed my all time favourite show GLEE! I had been a fan of the musical THE PROM before i figured out that it was going to be adapted into a movie so i thought it was an amazing idea! I actually put a note in my calendar setting a time and date for me to watch it! Yesterday, it came out on Netflix, but i had forgotten that it was coming out on that day! Luckily my friend was alert and told me that it had come out! After school i watched it with my parents! It was A…M…A…Z…I…N…G…!! I lip synched to each and every song, i cried, i laughed and had a incredibly enjoyable experience! For any of you who don’t know, THE PROM is about a teenage girl Emma who happens to be gay. She has been secretly dating her girlfriend Alyssa for 1 year in secret, because Alyssa is too afraid to go out in public, since her mother is a conservative women and doesn’t believe in people who are in the LGBTQ community. Emma wants to take Alyssa to prom, where she will tell her forbidding mother that she is in fact gay and has been dating someone for a year and a half without her mother knowing. But when the PTA here’s about the rumours that she is going to bring her anonymous girlfriend to the prom the PTA and Alyssa’s mother go nuts. They don’t want a “homosexual” prom. So they officially ban prom from happening altogether. While this is happening two liberal Broadway stars, Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman finish there opening night of ELEANOR! the musical. The New York Times review comes in and says that the show is a bomb. They close on opening night! There good friend Sheldon tells them that there just not likeable. Narcissistic spoiled actors! They decide that they need to find a cause to show the world that they’re good people. One of they’re fellow actors and friends Angie Dickinson sees Emma’s story on Twitter and they decide that they’re going to save her prom. Causing a lot of drama and some banging songs!
I decided that I wanted to do a quick review of each character in THE PROM and share my opinions about them. So here it goes!
Emma: Emma is the main character in THE PROM, and one of my favourites. She’s so wholesome, so sweet. Jo Ellen Pellman is an incredible actress! She has a great way of being a optimistic teen who has had to go through some heartbreaking things! She was definitely the character who made me cry the most. When she sang the Tonight Belongs To You (Reprise)! That was so emotional! My cheeks were soaked with tears! Jo Ellen Pellman also has a incredible voice. Very pure, her own. She’s not trying to copy or mimic someone. When she sang Just Breathe the third song in the movie I gave her a standing ovation and clapped. She really captured Emma’s spirit in that particular song.
Dee Dee Allen: Okay, how can you not love Dee Dee Allen! I mean she’s sarcastic, dramatic, funny (yes a little spoiled and narcissistic but what a character!) The Lady’s Improving has to be one of my favourite songs, not just in the movie but in the show as well! Meryl Streep was the perfect person to play Dee Dee because of her spirit and fiery energy! You could see that she was having loads of fun throughout the whole movie! I was also very impressed by her vocal range and belting skills! I mean we all know that she rocked as Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! But I didn’t know her vocals were so nice! Very smooth and fiery! She surprised me! I was very happy with the way Dee Dee turned out!
Barry: So I’m going to admit something here…. Barry Glickman is my all time favourite character in THE PROM! He’s so sweet, and innocent! He’s gone through so much, and his character is just amazing throughout the entire movie and musical. Now as we all know whenever someone needs a male star in a movie musical adaptation they call James Corden. I mean the mans been in Into The Woods, Cats, Trolls and more! I was very surprised by his portrayal of Barry. It was definitely the best thing that I’ve seen James Corden do! He was emotional, vulnerable and just truly fabulous!
Alyssa: Alyssa Green is certainly a wonderful character. She’s very shy, and wants perfection in everything she does. I love her character and think her relationship with Emma is so sweet and romantic. I am a huge fan of Ariana Dubois. Her voice is INCREDIBLE! The girl can belt. Her big showstopper however: Alyssa Green? genuinely beautiful! It’s my favourite song in the show so i was wondering how they would choose to do it! But it was amazing! The song is so deep and lovely, plus it gives us a great back story on Alyssa’s journey and her relationship with her mother. All in all i was very impressed with Ariana Dubois and her theatrical choices throughout the entire movie.
I’m so sorry I didn’t get to go deeper into the secondary characters like: Angie, Trent and Mr. Hawkins but this is a very long blog post so i didn’t want to keep all of you up all night reading my opinions! I really hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for reading!
The Ellington Review 