Back with another rockstar production, Lake Worth Playhouse’s “The Prom” is a testament to love, acceptance, and the magic that prom night can bring. As the second production in their 72nd season, “The Prom” is another facet in cultivating the next generation of theater-goers that this playhouse and so many others like it are doing. Lake Worth is giving performing opportunities to students, and few do. Students and adults alike who haven’t seen “The Prom” are going to love it.
Following up after the stellar production of “School of Rock,” director Debi Marcucci is back with another winner of a production in “The Prom.” My experience with the playhouse has been a developing love story, but one thing I have seen improve across its productions is the set design, thanks to Cindi Taylor. As an ode to musical theater, the music and the lighting were just what you’d imagine for something big and brassy. I have seen this production before, performed by different companies, and Lake Worth’s iteration is a force for local theater.
Set in this fictional, yet all too familiar, place where acceptance is still limited to the least forward-thinking, the four aging members of the theater community, Dee Dee Allen (JB Wing), Barry Glickman (Seth Ullian), Angie Dickinson (Pam Hankerson), and Trent Oliver (Billy Hannam), see their dreams crushed with the flop of their musical but find a worthy cause to rise back to fame: Emma Nolan, played by the unforgettable Juliana Zamorano. Nolan, who is denied entry to her prom because she is an openly-out teenager in a conservative area, rallies with this roving band of troubadours to try to find some happiness in her circumstances. The girl who Nolan loves, Alyssa Greene (Sofia Bornia), has not come out to her mother Mrs. Greene (Elizabeth Bornia), who is the most resistant character of the play. Yes, the mother-daughter duo are played by an actual mother-daughter duo!
Nolan and the troupe are tricked, alongside Mr. Hawkins (Dan Jamal), the principal of Nolan’s high school, and no one attends the newly-formed prom after a civil rights complaint caught wind. Mrs. Greene and the other parents secretly hold another prom, all to humiliate Nolan further while giving their own kids an LGBTQ-free prom. In come the troupe. Billy Hannam’s Trent was the audience-favorite on opening night when he won over the other kids in Emma’s school. My favorite was Seth Ullian’s Barry convincing Mrs. Greene that if she doesn’t accept her daughter, then she’ll lose her; an emotional reveal that echoes his own ostracization from his mother.
Special side note to the troupe’s assistant Sheldon Saperstein (Allan Hunter), who made me laugh at his comedic relief and sign that read: “NOBODY KNOWS I’M GAY.”
Overall, the writing of “The Prom” is excellently-paced, so boredom isn’t really an option here, in my opinion. Lake Worth’s direction and acting were also excellent. But all things can improve, and I will say that there were a couple of audio difficulties concerning the two types of microphones on stage. Some, wearing the microphone centered on their forehead, would cause feedback with those who wore ones around their ears to their mouths. Movement, inflection, body heat, all of these things affect sound quality. Only once or twice was it bad enough for a wince.
It’s the last weekend of Lake Worth Playhouse’s “The Prom.” Don’t miss out!
The post Lake Worth Playhouse’s ‘The Prom’ Roars & Soars appeared on South Florida Theater.
