“I don’t want to start a riot. I don’t want to blaze a trail. I don’t want to be a symbol or a cautionary tale.” Musical theatre is story first. Always has been. It’s the lyrics in the music which transports the story to the audience and at the end of the day, the story at the heart of The Prom is just about a person wanting to live their life like any other normal person and get to have all the things that any other normal person has. Making it’s regional-area premiere with Tidewater Players, The Prom is exploding all over the area and is a story that is filled with such heart, and equal parts humor, that it simply must be seen. Directed by Jessica Brockmeyer, with Musical Direction by Ron Burke, and Choreography by Alex Hill & Tigga Smaller, this regional-debut is eye-opening, heartwarming, and ultimately an enthusiastic, uplifting tale of people just wanting to be able to be themselves, all the time, out in the open.
The energy among the cast is stellar. The enthusiasm and performances— particularly from those actors playing ‘Teens’— is off the charts impressive. Which makes it so much harder when scene changes clunk and bump around, superfluous concepts go unchecked, and sound levels don’t get adjusted to fully support the phenomenal talent on stage. Director Jessica Brockmeyer has some hiccups in her approach to the show, but the high-octane choreo, the astonishing performances from the teen leads and half of the adult leads, as well as the incredible enthusiasm from the ensemble more than make up for these bumps in Brockmeyer’s production. Set Designer Tim Burcham has the right idea— lockers that spin into brick walls to go from high school hallway to gymnasium, with hanging signs when appropriate— but there’s some miscommunication happening with how these scenic transitions occur. Sometimes they’re very smooth, scenery gets spun, backdrop curtains glide along, and lights (designed by Brad Paulson) are brought up and down with perfect timing.
Other times, scenes are fully set and the stage remains in darkness, or the lights come up and they haven’t finished transitioning. Sound cues for music runs long or not long enough in many of these situation as well. Burcham could have done without the desk in Alyssa Greene’s room— it’s clunky and cumbersome along with the chair— and unnecessary for such short scenes. The character could just as easily stand there with Mrs. Greene for both of those scenes, watching the viral video on her phone rather than a laptop in the second scene, and not add to the chaos of scene changes that currently litters this show. Where the scenery shines is in the fabulous rainbow lighting brightening up the set and the house near the production’s end, by way of Brad Paulson. You literally get rainbow racer faerie strings out over the house at the end of the show. It’s so jubilant that you almost forget all the other scenic and lighting derailments along the journey.
Brockmeyer has good intentions with her plan to allow ‘true escapism’ during “We Look To You.” She’s cobbled together a montage of video clips (herself, Abigail Standish and Cate Standish are credited with the compilation)— from iconic old movie musicals to various Tidewater Players productions— and has projected them for viewing during this number. Her execution of this concept, however, is poor and borders heavily on disrespectful. Because Brockmeyer chooses to project it on the side wall of the house rather than the back scrim of the stage, everyone in the audience is turning to look at it, rather than paying attention to Lamar Leonard, the talented actor playing the role of Mr. Hawkins, school principal, who delivers this solo number. It’s distracting the way it’s currently presented, despite the nostalgic intentions behind it and ultimately reads as disrespectful to Leonard’s efforts on the stage.
Brockmeyer’s casting choices also come into question when it comes to the roles of Barry Glickman (Steve Flickinger) and Angie Dickinson (Judy Scott). While both actors in these respective roles find ways to sell themselves as these characters, particularly Judy Scott as Angie who is delivering so much ‘Zazz’ with her ferocious body language, comedic timing, and overall pluck that you love her solo number in the second act— both of the vocal ranges of the songs assigned to these characters stretch beyond what the actors are comfortable and capable of delivering. Flickinger presents what reads as an impersonation of a flamboyant gay queen rather but it feels restrained and directorially fettered. There are also sound balance issues throughout the performance, though Dickson Teel (sound designer) seemed to correct these (at least at the opening night performance) as the play progressed.
Co-Choreographers Alex Hill and Tigga Smaller are working show-stopping miracles with all the razzle-dazzle, heightened-enthusiastic dance routines they are pumping into the show. You can’t help but want to get up and jump and dance with these performers on the stage— particularly during “Love Thy Neighbor” with all of its high-octane-tent-revival-flavoring— and you’ll find yourself toe-tapping all throughout the show’s bigger dance numbers. “Tonight Belongs To You” has such a series of impressive moves fitted into the routine; “It’s Time To Dance” carries a similar vibe. And watch out for Dance Captain Kaitlyn Winner who is living up to her surname’s sake— she takes all the vivacious thunder with her super-twirls and spins that she gets to showcase frequently throughout the show’s choreographed moments. And a special shout-out of vast impressiveness to Lamar Leonard who is defying gravity and physics during the show’s finale with his acrobatic gymnastic flips!
There is so much ZAZZ exploding from the show’s costumes— Olakemi Teri and Dickie Mahoney— that you’ll go almost blind from all the sparkle, glitter, glamour, and sequins! Mahoney has the four Broadway celeb characters lit up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree; you could Dee Dee Allen’s costumes from the international space station. This is the most fantastic intersection of glamour, larger-than-life, and celebrity-narcissism perfectly packaged into miles of sequins. Dee Dee Allen’s wardrobe— I stopped trying to count after the seventh costume change— is packed so full of character it’s wild. It’s glittery, spangly sequins in every color and style from flow-top to jumpsuit to dress. Same with Barry Glickman’s ever-changing flamboyant scarves. Every shade of sparkle imaginable. Olakemi Teri works wonders on the ensemble— particularly when it comes to presenting the Godspell players because those costumes defy description in the best-worst way possible. (They are truly creative, outside the box, and look like they came from Clown Camp United…which is what most productions of Godspell end up looking like, so it’s perfect and it adds to the disparity of the close-minded town in which they show up!) The prom dresses, the glittery converse sneakers, the outfits on the whole are second only to the raw talent pouring out of the cast. It’s definitely Zazzy and will have you glowing (quite possibly with envy if you like a good sparkle as I do) just to look at them.
The ensemble (Shaelyn Betances, Zach Dodson, Colleen Donahue, Maggie Donahue, Alexandria Elias, Tristin Goodenough, Emily Machovec, Anna Odell, Aaron Oh, Brigid Phelan, Meghan Phelan, Sam Ranocchia, Lisa Rigsby, Shelly Squire, Abigail Standish, Kaitlyn Winner, Stanton Zacker) is chock-a-block with talent, energy, enthusiasm, and genuinely radiating joy out to the audience. Whether its some of the goofy adults— like Stanton Zacker with his oversized, outraged bowtie when he’s playing a Godspell player, or Maggie Donahue and Abigail Standish— who play named bullies Shelby and Kaylee, respectively— with their adorable overreactions to their prom-posals, everyone in this ensemble is bursting at the seams with the thrill of the music and the story of this production. You get huge swells of vocalized emotion during “Love Thy Neighbor” from the ensemble as well as during “Unruly Heart”, both solos being backed and accompanied by this talented ensemble. Shout out to Aaron Oh and Zack Dodson, playing the bullies Nick and Kevin, respectively, who have featured vocal moments (just like Standish and Donahue) during “You Happened.”
One of the most provocative performances in this production is given by Dawn Regner, playing Mrs. Greene. All but channeling Marjorie Taylor Greene, Regner is the epitome of intolerant, homophobic bigotry. It’s horrific and astonishing to see just how much hatred one can feel after watching her character spout vile vitriol every chance she gets while simultaneously spinning the story to make her the victim. Shout out once again to the costume team who at the top of the second act put Regner’s character in a stark black and white contrasting dress, sharply symbolizing her world views of how there simply cannot be middle ground— it’s all black and white. Regner is committed with conviction to these moments of villainy, and almost cracks a sliver of humanity near the show’s conclusion, which is gratifying to watch because we’d like to hope all of the Mrs. Greene’s in our life can be reached on some level and made to see that everyone deserves to be loved and accepted for who they are. It’s easy to hate the character; lots of love to Regner who is totally invested in delivering the role as intended without shying away from the repulsive characteristics that accompany it.
The incredibly talented Lamar Leonard, in the role of the high school principal, Mr. Hawkins, has a sharp sense of lowkey comic timing. Some of the lines his character has are quite humorous and Leonard lands them with precision. He’s also got an impressive, smooth and clear voice which rings out during “We Look To You.” His emphatic infatuation with Dee Dee Allen is adorable and his ability to flip that off once her truer natures come to light is extremely impressive. Leonard gives great depth to a potentially static/filler character, really enlivening the experience and those gymnastic moves were so surprising and amazing— they deserve a second round of praise.
You’ve got the fantastic five— or the fearsome foursome plus Sheldon (Steven Stubbs-Webb.) Adding easily blended vocal harmonies during “It’s Not About Me” and “Changing Lives Act II”, Stubbs-Webb is a comical component to the whole experience of the Broadway-Has-Beens-Come-To-Indiana. Stubbs-Webb is charming, knows how to drop a humorous line in the place where it belongs during the dialogue exchanges and holds his own against the bigger personalities on the stage.
Judy Scott does deliver a hell of a sense of confidence when it comes to physically portraying Angie Dickinson. Though Brockmeyer’s decision to push that stereotypical and cliché accent on her character feels really unnecessary, Scott holds her own with it and really nails the comedic exchange scene with Emma leading into “Zazz”, her big solo feature. Strutting with such physical command and confident prowess all through that number, you truly believe every word that’s coming out of her mouth. Steve Flickinger— who does have the most impressive costume-magic moment during “Barry’s Going To Prom”…the concept and execution of that silver-tux-two-person-flip-move were flawless— has some truly touching emotional moments where you can tell he’s sincerely connected to the pathos of Barry, especially when confronting Mrs. Greene near the show’s end, but some of the heightened intensity of what should be a self-proclaimed sassy gay queen often reads as a pantomime or a parody rather than a true portrayal.
All hail the Dionysus of theatrical fabulousity when it comes to Trent Oliver (Tyler Zeisloft). Of Julliard. Zeisloft has an incredible vocal talent that will blow you away. His sustains at the end of “Love Thy Neighbor” are magnificent and the rip-roaring energy that he pounds into that number is extraordinary. Charming and hilarious and equally parts obnoxious in his character portrayal, Zeisloft is a delightful triple threat that takes the stage by storm, really helping to refocus the misguided kids of Indiana with that hysterical number. And he’s got dance moves that are on par with those younger folk in the teen ensemble.
There probably aren’t enough words— that haven’t already been used here— to send up the praises to Lisa Standish in the role of Dee Dee Allen. Girl is vocally shining brighter than her costumes and once you see those costumes you’ll understand how big of a praise that it. She’s mastered that classical sounding upper-tenor-lower-alto-mezzo range that seems to be all but forgotten in most modern musicals. And when she belts at the end of some of her numbers, hold onto your hats— its powerful. Standish is bringing truly bubbleheaded narcissism to the front of her portrayal and its hilarious. “That’s what a celebrity is.” You get that stunning sound in “The Lady’s Improving” and all throughout Dee Dee’s numbers when Standish is singing and dancing and charming her way through the role.
Alyssa (Sammi Flickinger) and Emma (Lizzie Sprague) are the leading characters whose lives are the pivotal point of contention of the show. The realistic chemistry that exists and develops…and redevelops…between Flickinger and Sprague feels genuine, coming from a place of true understanding. When their voices marry blissfully together during their verse of “You Happened” it’s heart-melting. Flickinger has a stunning moment during “Alyssa Greene” the song where she sings all about how she can’t ever really be herself because of all the expectations put upon her and for as heart-melting as her prior duet with Sprague is, is as tragically beautiful and utterly heartbreaking as this solo number is. Flickinger has clear vocals, good facial expressions, and when she finally has her moment of reckoning with Mrs. Greene, it feels empowering.
Sprague, as the catalyst for the whole shebang, is a sensation. She’s got gorgeous tonal control and quality with exceptional consistency every time she sings. What’s truly brilliant about Sprague’s singing talent is that she’s able to convey raw, real emotions— particularly during the very end of “Act I Finale”— without vocally compromising the sound that comes out of her mouth. When she sings “Just Breathe” it feels like the teenage anthem every misunderstood, judged, ‘othered’ teenager needed when they were going through high school. Sprague’s convivial connectivity to the character’s emotions is dynamic and realistic beyond compare. “Unruly Heart” becomes this beautiful amalgamation of an eleven o’clock number meeting a torch song and giving birth to a harbinger of hope; Sprague does the number a great justice, especially with her adorably human slip-up right at the begging on the guitar before the number even starts. The transformation that Sprague presents in the character is remarkable and falls perfectly in line with her incredible talents as a performer.
There are dozens of excellent reasons to go see The Prom at Tidewater Players. Get your fancy dress, your shiny shoes, and most importantly— your tickets— to catch this rare, sparkling gem in all its glory as it makes is regional-area premiere this winter.
Running Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes with one intermission
The Prom plays through March 6 2023 with Tidewater Players, in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.
To check out The Prom with Abigail and Aaron, click here!
To check out The Prom with Maggie and Zach, click here!
To check out The Prom with Tristin and Brigid, click here!
To check out The Prom with Kaitlyn and Anna, click here!
To check out The Prom with Shelly and Shae, click here!
To check out The Prom with Sammi and Lizzy, click here!
