Where's the zazz baby?
The zazz is right there in The Prom trailer, Nicole. Why do you ask?
What is going on? Who are you people?
That's a good question Kerry. And a great set up to a trailer, so we shall answer the question since the trailer actually didn't. For those of you who don't follow Broadway, The Prom is a completely wonderful Tony-nominated musical. It's now been transferred to film (with not a single surviving cast member from the stage, despite all those Tony nominations!) so we can't vouch for whether or not it's still wonderful. But here's how it goes...
It's about two tremendously vain Broadway stars, the legendary DeeDee (Meryl Streep) and frequent co-star Barry (James Corden) and their chorus hoofer friends (Nicole Kidman and Andrew Rannells) who are licking their wounds from a face-plant flop musical about Eleanor Roosevelt. To reenergize their careers they decide they need to be seen as charitable rather than self-involved and they chance upon a story about a young lesbian who isn't allowed to go to her prom. They swoop into the unsuspecting small town -- who don't know from Broadway -- and attempt to right this social wrong.
Chaos, comedy, and lots of big musical numbers follow.
Surely you know who I am?
Yes, Meryl Streep! We do. If we here at TFE had been in charge of this transfer and we knew Meryl Streep was cast we would have 100% had her pull three Tonys out of her bag in this big clip joke... to coincide with the meta joke of Meryl Streep playing her. (Meryl has zero Tonys, though she was Tony-nominated in 1976, but she does have three Oscars)
OKAY THAT TRAILER
YES
• Meryl, Nicole, and Andrew look like they're having a lot of fun and that is often contagious as an audience
• The thought of Keegan Michael Key obsessing over Meryl is promising (he's the principal of the school and a huge Dee Dee fan)
• Jo Ellen Pellman has a radiant smile though we don't get much of her performance in these clips.
NO
• James Corden. Please make it stop. Can't we have one musical without him? He's not some undeniable musical performer. There are so many talented actors who can sing and dance. Tituss Burgess would have slayed this role, for instance.
• Ryan Murphy. Listen. Yes, it's wonderful that he has put so much GAY into the world. But he is really burnt himself out releasing so many projects every year. Each project feels more garish and messy than the last even though the ideas behind them are often promising.
MAYBE SO
• The trailer sure looks gaudy. But on the other hand at least it's very colorful. So many movies err on the side of sedate that we'll take too much ZAZZ, please
• How are the musical numbers? We only get the big showstopper finale number here. But DeeDee has a phenomenal solo (in the stage musical) and the young girl has a beautiful solo too (pictured above).
• One of the delightful things about this musical on stage was that it was an equal opportunity offender. Like on the surface it sounds like conservatives would absolutely feel attacked by it but the stage version had so much fun, even more fun actually, lampooning the self-important moral righteousness of liberals. So against all odds it felt like good natured ribbing all around with a beautiful central message of just shut up and let kids have their prom and a chance at love! This seems like a line that the movie is not going to be able to walk as well, especially with a sledgehammer messenger like Ryan Murphy behind the megaphone.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS TRAILER?