The sleeper Broadway hit that was Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin and Matthew Sklar’s The Prom is now a star-studded spectacle on Netflix starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, and Nicole Kidman, all of whom drown in autotune in the first trailer for Ryan Murphy’s upcoming adaptation.
Streep and Corden star as a pair of fading Broadway stars in dire need of good publicity, which arrives in the form of an Indiana high school that won’t allow a girl to attend prom with her girlfriend. With Kidman and Girls’ Andrew Rannells in tow, the pair looks to garner some woke headlines by lending their wattage to the cause. Alas, their “self-absorbed celebrity activism unexpectedly backfires,” likely due to them singing “Imagine” to a confused senior class.
Just kidding, nothing in The Prom, which sounds overproduced to the point of parody, is so raw and uncut as Gal Gadot’s cringey singalong. See for yourself in the trailer, which, despite our cynicism, promises a campy good time for those who enjoy campy good times.
Newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman leads a supporting cast that also includes Keegan-Michael Key, Kerry Washington, Tracey Ullman, and Mary Kay Place, none of whom are the original musical’s Tony-nominated Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, and Caitilin Kinnunen, who are notably absent from the film version.
The Prom kicks off on December 11.