Everything You Need To Know About Netflix’s Adaptation Of Broadway Musical “The Prom”
Director of the film, Ryan Murphy announced plans for the adaptation based on the Broadway musical of the same name, during a charity performance of the musical at New York’s Longacre Theatre in April 2019.
The Prom tells the comic story of four verging-on-has-been Broadway stars who decide to reinvigorate their careers with a public relations stunt: They arrive, en masse and uninvited, in a small town to support a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the senior prom. The movie will include the stage musical’s score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin.
Meet the incredible icon-packed cast of Netflix’s The Prom,” wrote Murphy, who directs. “A group of true troopers who buckled up and finished shooting during COVID so we could give everybody an inspirational aspirational story that we all need right now. Christmas is right around the corner…”
Filming had commenced on December 11, 2019, in Los Angeles. On March 12, 2020, production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to this, the leads had wrapped filming, with only two days of second unit filming left, which was initially scheduled to resume in mid-April but was ultimately delayed to summer. Production resumed in July and the star-studded cast managed to finish filming in the midst of the pandemic
On June 25, 2019, Meryl Streep, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, and Nicole Kidman were revealed to be cast as the four leads with Keegan-Michael Key as the school principal and Awkwafina as publicist Ms. Sheldon (a genderswap on Sheldon Saperstein of the stage production). Ariana Grande was initially cast as Alyssa Greene, a popular but closeted cheerleader, and Emma’s girlfriend, but scheduling conflicts with the Sweetener World Tour forced Grande to exit the project.
Kerry Washington was cast in October, with Ariana DeBose joining in November, replacing Grande in the role of Alyssa. Jo Ellen Pellman was also cast as Emma following a nationwide search. The project is the first film under Murphy’s $300 million deal with Netflix, and fifth overall. On January 25, 2020, Awkwafina dropped out of the film due to scheduling conflicts and Kevin Chamberlin was recast as Sheldon Saperstein. On June 25, 2020, Tracey Ullman and Mary Kay Place were revealed to star in the film; According to Wikipedia.
In announcing the project last year, Murphy said, “ The Prom is one of the most uplifting, heartfelt and special musicals I have ever seen on Broadway. It’s truly an original that celebrates the underdog and says in a loving spectacular way that LGBTQ rights are human rights. I feel a special connection to it because it’s set in Indiana, and that’s where I grew up, too.”
The executive producer and director, Ryan Murphy took to Twitter on 13 September and posted, “On December 11, Let Netflix take you to The Prom you didn’t get this year,” So there’s still a few months to go before the film hits the streaming service.
Netflix released the trailer for The Prom in late October.
According to Collider, For the fans of The Prom wondering what tunes from the show made it? Murphy gave us this big update:
We used all the songs and then we’ve written one new song for it, one new original piece for The Prom. That was really fun to work on and it’s a great ballad, and it’s really a moving song about acceptance and prejudice. I think a lot of people will love it. Yeah, we kept every song and we added one, which is a lot, but it’s fun, worth it.
As for how Murphy got this star-studded cast to sing these well-known (and one original) song? Well, all he had to do was ask:
“I’ve never done this in my career, but I called up three people I’ve always wanted to work with, which was Meryl Streep and James Corden and Nicole Kidman. And I said, ‘I want to do this. I believe in it. I want to work with you. Do you want to do it?’ And all three of them went to see [the play] within that week, I think, and they all called and instantly said, ‘Yes, I will do it.’ The fact that I could get Meryl Streep to love it and be into it and believe in it as much as I did, I just couldn’t believe that I got Meryl Streep to say yes in a one week window.
I was so excited about the message, and then I think I was right about how powerful it is because all of those actors said yes instantly, which has never happened once in my career. And it turned out to be the most fun to shoot. I mean, there’s so many takes. We had to stop because we were all just dying laughing because it was so funny. And they’re all just so good in it. Meryl’s amazing and James and Nicole, Andrew, and all the new kids in it.”
When asked in an interview about “The Prom” by E! Red Carpet and Award shows, Nicole Kidman spoke “ I am looking forward to a little bit of Lighthearted fun and play. I kinda need that…… laughs. She continues “I am gonna be singing; I get to sing a really great number called “ give it some sass”.
Are you looking forward to “The Prom”? Are you gonna be watching it this Christmas? Let us know in the comments below
Originally published at site:theweeklydiversion.com on September 6, 2020.
