Meryl Streep tries her hand at rapping in Ryan Murphy’s take on the Broadway musical ‘The Prom’
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Should Hollywood get ready for MC Streep?
The most celebrated film actress of her generation — who many believe can do just about anything when it comes to the craft — will rap for her next role in Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of the Broadway musical “The Prom.”
“We wrote a song that was a sad song, but it didn’t fit with the tone of the movie. And then we got to the end of the movie, with the end-credit design sequence,” Murphy revealed in a new interview with Variety about the song “Wear Your Crown.” " When I saw that, I think we needed an end-credit song that’s about the women. It’s about the female power in the film. I told the songwriting team and the composer, ‘Let’s do something upbeat, that we can send people out in a celebratory fashion, and let’s have all the women do the vocal tracks. Furthermore, let’s have Meryl Streep rap.’"
Yes, the 71-year-old Summit, N.J.,-born thespian, who recently sang in the 2014 filmed adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods,” and the 2015 comedy-drama “Ricki and the Flash,” will rap the final cut of the song.
“I think Meryl fans are going to go crazy for it,” Murphy added. “I have a video of Meryl rapping. She was so good that we used her first take, which just goes to show you there’s nothing that Meryl Streep cannot do.”
In the film, the multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar and Tony Award winner portrays New York City stage star Dee Dee Allen, whose expensive new Broadway show is a major flop that has suddenly flatlined her career. She and fellow self-absorbed acting pals use their celebrity activism to the aid of a small-town Indiana young lesbian couple banned from their high school senior prom.
Nicole Kidman, Ariana DeBose, Andrew Rannells, James Corden, Keegan-Michael Key and Kerry Washington are among the cast of the film, which will be released Dec. 11 on Netflix.
Murphy said that he initially wanted to make an “old fashioned movie musical,” and “a love letter to the Hollywood musicals we all grew up on.”
“I’ve never done something so old-fashioned,” the “American Horror Story” auteur shared. “My work tends to be a little bit edgier. I really set out to make something that was for everyone, something that parents can watch with their kids.”
With music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin based on an original concept by Jack Viertel, “The Prom” premiered on Broadway in October 2018. Nominated for six Tony Awards, the Casey Nicholaw-helmed production played 23 previews and 309 performances.
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