The Alliance Theatre-born musical The Prom finally has its date with Broadway. It will open Nov. 15 at one of the Shubert organization’s 18 theaters.
Four leading actors seen by Atlanta audiences will reprise their roles: Beth Leavel as Broadway diva Dee Dee Allen, Christopher Sieber and Brooks Ashmanskas as fellow actors, and Caitlin Kinnunen as the high-school student named Emma. Atlanta-based Courtenay Collins will make her Broadway debut as PTA President Mrs. Greene, the role she played at the Alliance.
The Prom, set in a small Indiana town, is Emma’s story. It details what happens when she’s banned from the prom for wanting to bring her lesbian girlfriend, and what happens a band of eccentric, out-of-work actors decide to intervene.
The score is by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, the book by Beguelin and Bob Martin. Casey Nicholaw returns to choreograph and direct. He’s been nominated for six Tonys, winning as best director for The Book of Mormon in 2011.
Leavel, a Tony Award winner for The Drowsy Chaperone, has also been seen in Bandstand, Elf the Musical and Mamma Mia! Sieber is a two-time Tony nominee, for Shrek the Musical and Spamalot. Ashmanskas’ Broadway credits include Sunday in the Park With George (revival), Shuffle Along, Something Rotten! and Bullets Over Broadway.
[MORE: ENCORE CHATS WITH BETH LEAVEL]
The Prom had its world premiere at the Alliance in August 2016, and the critics were mostly kind:
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: “The Prom is delightful good fun. …The problem is the tale that purports to be about Emma and her girlfriend is pretty much bulldozed by the antics of the uninvited New Yorkers.”
VARIETY: “You might wince at the prospect of a group of Broadway egotists landing in a conservative town to fight for a teen lesbian — but it turns out to be a happy merging of disparate worlds. Think Fun Home meets The Drowsy Chaperone.”
