31 Dec / The Prom: A Novel Based on the Hit Broadway Musical by Saundra Mitchell with Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
Two star-crossed seniors just want to dance together at prom. Emma lives with her grandmother since her parents rejected her when she came out, but the bullying at school has never stopped. She and student council president Alyssa are in love, but Alyssa’s fear of disappointing her reigning PTA queen mother keeps Alyssa firmly closeted. Homophobic detractors insist on keeping prom on the straight-and-narrow, until a pair of Broadway stars (escaping a recent flop) arrive in town, poised to wave their magic wands.
Once upon a recent time, Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar created their Tony-nominated musical, The Prom. Saundra Mitchell (All the Things We Do in the Dark) – with the creative trio – adapted the Broadway hit into a YA novel, which has now gone aural featuring four of the original Broadway cast: Caitlin Kinnunen as Emma (yes, she even reprises “Dance with You”) and Isabelle McCalla as Alyssa voice the majority of the six-hour production; Beth Leavel and Joshua Lamon are their reluctant, de facto fairy godmothers, Dee Dee and Barry. Veteran narrator Tara Sands is plenty convincing in her minor roles as interviewer/journalist.
Lucky listeners even get a bonus interview with Martin, Beguelin, and Sklar, with Lamon asking the Qs. Take this from an anti-musical curmudgeonly reviewer: The Prom is irresistibly duhhhhhlicious rainbow cotton candy.
Review: “Media,” Booklist Online, December 6, 2019
Readers: Adult
Published: 2019