Reading the plot synopsis in advance of attending The Arlington Players’ new production of the musical “The Prom,” I said to myself: “Self, it’s either going to be an eminently entertaining outing, or an insufferable experience of playwright self-indulgence.”
While there were some hit-or-miss aspects, overall it proved an engaging and at times laugh-out-loud show about theater folk and a clash of cultures that took fair shots at everyone in equal measure and had some memorable performances.
Oh, about the plot: After having bombed on opening night in an ill-conceived Broadway musical about Eleanor Roosevelt, the stars of the show need some way to find redemption, stay in the limelight and leave behind their narcissistic public personae. To do so, they glom on to a news item from Indiana where a female high-school senior has inadvertently caused a community firestorm by wanting to take another girl to the prom.
The Broadway performers, sensing a way to burnish their progressive bona-fides in the press while wriggling out of the public’s view of them as incessantly narcissistic, head off to the Hoosier State, hitching a ride on a bus with a non-Equity touring cast of “Godspell.”
“We’re going to help that lesbian, whether she likes it or not!” one declares as they prepare to hit the road.
Thus begin two acts dissecting the situation from all sides, leaving the audience to wonder if, before the final curtain falls, some common ground can be found.
It’s a shaky start for our New Yorkers. The PTA doesn’t exactly roll out a welcoming committee for the Broadway thespians, and their effort to rally the community by staging a salute-to-diversity musical tribute during intermission of a monster-truck rally goes awry.
Meanwhile, the student prom committee pulls a switcheroo, moving the event to a secret location and leaving Emma (the student at the center of the controversy) and her increasingly cold-footed friend Alyssa to fend for themselves.
Meanwhile, the theater-loving principal falls for one of the Broadway stars, adding another plot layer.
Cast-wise, the blissfully un-self-aware Broadway troupers (Judy Lewis, Patrick M. Doneghy, Eric Kennedy and Maura Lacy) and the high-schoolers caught in the middle (Emily Carbone as Emma and Jummy Lash as Alyssa) all turn in winning performances.
Carbone, Kennedy and Phil Krzywicki (as the principal) carry the musical numbers with strong voices, and the musical choreography (credit Jeremy A. McShan) and orchestra (under the baton of Blakeman Brophy) complement the work of director Joanna Henry. The musical numbers were are entertaining and well-put-together.
Not unlike the Arlington Players’ winter production of “Anton in Show Business,” which also lampooned the theater-folk profession, there are some blind spots in Bob Martin’s book for “The Prom” when it veers toward preachy or hits a slow patch. But for the most part, the script worked well in being gently zesty with its humor, poking fun at but never particularly skewering either side while making its way toward a conclusion you’ll find either heartfelt or a tad schmaltzy, depending on your disposition.
In theater as in life, the perfect often becomes the enemy of the good – “The Prom,” thankfully, seems aiming to be above average rather than perfect, and largely hits its marks. The result is a show that will please most community-theater crowds while showcasing local talent.
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“The Prom” runs through April 7 at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre in Arlington. For information and tickets, see the Website at www.thearlingtonplayers.org.
