Gay Prom Musicals!

Prom Queen the Musical. Music by Colleen Dauncey. Lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal. Book by Kent Staines. 2016 Montreal's Segal Centre. Basis: Documentary Prom Fight: The Marc Hall Story (2002).

In 2002 Marc Hall sued the Durham Catholic District School Board. The principal had banned him from taking his boyfriend to prom. The story made international headlines and was adapted into a 2002 documentary, a 2004 film and a 2016 musical. In 2018 the London District Catholic School Board and the Thames Valley District School Board pulled their funding from a high school production of Prom Queen: The Musical. The board has cited profanity and mature themes but that didn't prevent their previous productions of Grease, Les Miserables and West Side Story. This kind of thing has happened before. It always sells a lot of tickets and makes the school board look bad.

The Prom. Music by Matthew Sklar. Lyrics by Chad Beuelin. Book by Chad Beuelin and Bob Martin. 2016 Atlanta. 2018 Broadway.

The publicity is likely to help Prom Queen: The Musical score some major productions. However another musical, The Prom, is going to beat it to Broadway. The Prom reunites The Drowsy Chaperone's Bob Martin and Beth Leavel for a zany comedy. The focus shifts from the teens to the well meaning adults making the protest all about themselves. The premise sounds messy on paper but reviews for the Atlanta premiere were strong. The Prom's Broadway run begins on November 15, 2018.

The Drowsy Chaperone

Molina has the Spider Woman. Trevor has Diana Ross. The Man in the Chair has Janet Van de Graaff. Each glamorous muse welcomes you to forget your troubles.

What are the Man in the Chair's troubles? He never says outright though he admits he's "feeling a little blue." He's been married and divorced. He reads as gay (Well, not so much when Bob Saget played him) but denies it. ("I'm a very complicated person.") Now he's a recluse.

Why is The Drowsy Chaperone his favorite musical? He claims it's just "fun." And it is. Janet retires from the stage to marry Robert. Her former producer wants her back. Fidelity is tested and Janet's alcoholic drowsy Chaperone foils the producers schemes. One deus ex machina later we have a happy ending.

Purists have griped that the score sounds more 50's than 20's, particularly in Janet's homage to "Rose's Turn," while others have dismissed the show as mindless fluff. Those of us who like a darkness for flavor can see the Man in the Chair's fate as a sad one. But at the end of the day The Drowsy Chaperone remains fun. It also won Beth Leavel a Tony and provided Sutton Foster with one of her best numbers.

Bandstand & Come From Away

The Tony nominations will be announced soon and it's time to catch up on the new musicals of 2017.

Bandstand. Music by Richard Oberacker. Book and Lyrics by Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor. 2015 Paper Mill Playhouse. 2017 Broadway.

Come From Away. Music, Lyrics and Book by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. 2015 La Jolla & Seattle. 2017 Broadway.