By LOU HARRY
I caught the first performance of The Prom, produced by Summer Stock Stage, a unique company that fuses the talents of established performers with early career actors. It’s now a resident company of the Butler Arts & Events Center, with four productions this season at the Schrott Center.
This was my fourth date with The Prom, having seen the original Broadway production, a professionally managed community theater take and the compromised film version. Some of my reactions have been consistent.
For one, I am always moved by Emma, the lead character who just wants to dance with her preferred date – another young girl she has a closeted relationship with – at the title event. Each version I’ve experienced came with a different Emma – not just a different actress but a different enough take with none feeling like carbon copies of the original.
Here, Mai Caslowitz brings truth to the character’s conflicting desires to achieve what seems to her a harmless goal, while also not wanting to be a spokesperson for anything. Caslowitz is not only a terrific singer and dancer, but she knows that Emma isn’t a terrific singer and dancer. So when she soars vocally and physically, there’s a kind of theater magic. We aren’t watching an actress show off her skills — we’re watching Emma find new aspects of herself. And it’s truly thrilling and heart-feeding.
One of the joys of the Broadway production was the balance between the cartoonish, narcissim-driven adults and the sincerity of Emma and her partner’s agonizing situation. And much of the pleasure comes from the way each group impacts the others – particularly in the common ground found between outcast Emma and fresh-from-a-theater-flop Barry Glickman. The film and the community theater production I mentioned botched that balance. Summer Stock Stage, under the direction of Emily Ristine Holloway, gets it gloriously right. Adam B. Shapiro as Glickman, allowing his vulnerability to subtly emerge as he sees himself in Emma, is, alone, a reason to see this production.
But there are plenty more reasons. The score is first-rate and would have been a strong Tony Award contender if the show were produced in any of the next few years. But, alas, in 2019 it was up against first-rate work in Hadestown, so the trophy wasn’t in the cards. Still, it’s got bops, the sizable orchestra here delivers, and “Unruly Heart” gets me every time.
The lyrics and book are packed with both jokes and heart. The gang of supporting performers that populate the high school here give life even to non-speaking parts, with a level of dance not seen often on local musical stages. Well-cast Alexandria Van Paris, Lanene Charters and Logan Mortier round out the main adult parts. And local favorite Ben Asaykwee offers a different take on publicist Sheldon that upped the presence of what could be a throwaway part (and the Pringles were a smile-inducing grace note).
As with previous productions, there are two elements that I still wish were charged. One is a book issue that will likely seem like nit picking. I never bought the idea that the reconstituted prom requires the high cost quoted. This is rural Indiana, folks, and Emma would have been happy with a balloon-decorated gym. Okay, like I said, nit-picking.
Second, one of the most grounding moments in the show occurs when Barry gently and clearly tells the president of the PTA – and mother of Emma’s girlfriend – that she will lose her daughter if she continues in the way she has. That moment is played beautifully here and it’s followed by the mother telling her daughter, before walking off, that they will talk later. In my opinion, that’s where it should stand. There’s hope and that feels right.
But bringing back mom into the final dance scene compromises that moment, tainting the joyful ending with fake Pollyanna-ism. The show doesn’t need it and neither does this otherwise glorious, highly recommended production.
The Prom (2 hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission) continues at the Butler Arts & Events Center, 4602 Sunset Avenue in Indianapolis, through June 8. Show times and tickets are available here.
