The Prom sets final Broadway performance for August
Less than a year after opening, The Prom will be taking its last bow on Broadway this summer. The Tony-nominated musical has set its final performance for Aug. 11 at the Longacre Theatre.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to bring this original musical comedy, full of heart and humor, to Broadway with this dream cast and creative team,” producers Bill Damaschke, Dori Berinstein, and Jack Lane said in a statement. “Since the earliest days in the journey of The Prom, we have known this story was something special. We are beyond thrilled that our story will continue beyond Broadway with not only a national tour, but a film, a novel, and in schools and theatres all over the world.”
The Prom opened on Broadway on Nov. 15, 2018, regaling audiences with the story of Emma Nolan (Caitlin Kinnunen), an Indiana teen who got her school’s prom canceled for wanting to bring her girlfriend, and the fight to restore justice and bring it back on.
Upon its final performance, The Prom will have played 23 previews and 310 regular performances. The musical garnered seven Tony Award nominations and one Drama Desk Award, out of five nods. It earned critical praise, and EW’s own review said the production has “no shortage of talent (or humor, or heart) onstage.”
One of the musical’s most high-profile admirers is Ryan Murphy, who announced in April his plans to turn it into a “movie event” for Netflix. In an Instagram post, the Pose and American Horror Story co-creator revealed that he would bring Damaschke and Berinstein along for the new project, as well as the creative team of Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin, Matthew Sklar, and Casey Nicholaw. The film is slated to premiere in September 2020.
A post shared by Ryan Murphy (@mrrpmurphy) on Apr 9, 2019 at 5:32pm PDT
“The Prom is one of the most uplifting, heartfelt and special musicals I have ever seen on Broadway,” wrote Murphy. “It’s truly an original that celebrates the underdog and says in a loving spectacular way that LGBTQ rights are human rights. I feel a special connection to it because it’s set in Indiana, and that’s where I grew up, too.”
It was also recently announced that the musical would be adapted into a young-adult novel by author Saundra Mitchell. It will be published Sept. 10. by Viking Children’s Books.
Additionally, the cast of The Prom will perform as part of Youth Pride at Summerstage in Central Park on June 29, and at the closing ceremony of WorldPride celebration in Times Square the following day. In February 2021, the show’s national tour will launch in Providence, R.I.
Murphy recently signed a massive overall deal with Netflix, reportedly in the $250-$300 million range, to produce content exclusively for the streamer. At the Time 100 summit in April, the industry titan said he has 10 greenlit projects in the pipeline at Netflix, including The Prom and his other Broadway film adaptation, The Boys in the Band, starring Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto.
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