Since my wife and I generally will see any play or musical that our local community theaters here in Hampton Roads put on, we sometimes like to go in totally blind to knowing anything about the play other than the title.  So, when we walked into The Prom at Peninsula Community Theatre (PCT), we thought it would just be nice, easy-to-consume play about high schoolers getting their dates and then going to prom, with lots of laughs and maybe a coming of age story to tie it all together.  What we were not expecting was a poignant tale based in true events about a lesbian high schooler and the battle she generated in her small town when she tried to take another girl as her date to her high school prom.

The girl generating all the fuss in town is named Emma, played by Sofia Jameson Strick.  Strick brought this character to life, as you could feel the tension inside of her, even from our seats about two-thirds of the way back in the theater.  Her understated performance was totally believable, and she did an outstanding job of bringing the audience with her through each emotion she was feeling.  Emma initially finds an ally in her Principal, Tom Hawkins, portrayed well by Gunther Perkins, who can’t quite seem to win the battle over an irate group of parents, led by Carrie Grace Morgan’s Mrs. Greene.  What Mrs. Greene doesn’t know yet is that her daughter Alyssa, played by Carly Murray, is in fact Emma’s date to the prom.  The ensuing mother-daughter conflict is presented and acted out in a very believable way, with both sides uncomfortable and passive-aggressive toward each other (just like in real life).

Meanwhile, some Broadway actors (who happen to be on the downswing of their careers) get word of the goings-on, and decide to take it upon themselves to try to fix the situation, for better or worse.  Jane Diana plays the over-the-top Dee Dee Allen (fifty years after she initially stepped onto the PCT stage), Marshall Robey plays the funny man in his role of Trent Oliver, and Grace Fitzpatrick makes a quick turnaround to the local stages as Angie Dickenson after her outstanding performance in last spring’s performance of She Loves Me over at Smithfield Little Theatre.  The man who is the glue to making this whole play work, however, turns out to be Jeffrey Nicoloff, playing the flamboyantly gay actor Barry Glickman.  He really committed to the part and was massively entertaining with his over-the-top acting, crescendo-ing with his belting performance of “Barry Is Going to Prom”, which brought the house down due to Nicoloff’s pure commitment to selling the song. 

Jeff Corriveau, as director, did a nice job getting the actors to really put it all out there, and as set designer, created a believable looking high school on stage.  And, I found John Wilt’s lighting to be done well and in an interesting way – with rope lights moving and dancing across the back of the stage, and the stage lights hitting their cues perfectly – notably lighting a “Last Supper” moment right on time, which the audience loved. 

Kudos to PCT for deciding to put on such an emotional journey of a musical, and kudos to the audience for giving it a well-deserved standing ovation at the end.  Given the largely middle-age and older crowds that tend to flock to community theater, I wasn’t sure how the audience would react to a play so clearly making a point about acceptance and love in the LGBTQ+ community.  Even if a majority of the audience does read a brief synopsis of a play they are going to see before walking in the door (and thus self-select into seeing plays they are likely to agree with the themes of), I like to think that at least a few members of the audience, like my wife and I, were expecting nothing more than a fluffy, fun act.  I’m happy to report that based on the crowd’s reaction, even if they weren’t expecting to need to be an ally to Emma when walking in, they became one by the time they were walking out.