About the work
The Prom is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin and a book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. Its 2018 Broadway premiere combines fast-paced showbiz comedy with a warm-hearted story about acceptance. Cheeky, heartfelt and optimistic, the show celebrates tolerance and self-assertion and became known to a worldwide audience through a successful Netflix film.
Plot
Four washed-up Broadway stars face the ruins of their careers after a flop and desperately seek a good deed to polish their battered image. They pounce on a headline from the small town of Edgewater, Indiana: there, the parents' association has cancelled the prom just so that the student Emma cannot bring her girlfriend as her date. With grand gestures but little tact, the actors travel in to support Emma. Amid culture clash, embarrassing missteps and genuine connection, everyone fights together for a prom at which Emma is allowed to be herself.
Cultural significance
The Prom was one of the first major Broadway musicals to place a lesbian teenager and her struggle for acceptance at its joyful centre, and it made history with the first same-sex couple dance in the long-running Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. With rousing numbers such as "Time to Dance" and the moving ballad "Unruly Heart", it combines exuberant entertainment with a clear message of tolerance. Ryan Murphy's 2020 Netflix film carried the material around the world.