Take Someone You Like to the Prom (Queen)
Your high school Prom is one of those defining moments growing up. It might’ve been great or it might have been awful, but you will always remember it. What would you have felt like if you were banned from attending with the one person you adored at that moment?
Marc Hall, a high school student from Oshawa Ontario, had to take the school board to court in order to take the person he wanted to his prom – his boyfriend, Jean-Paul Dumond (Jason in this show). This controversy set off a national media frenzy. The case and the attention it received helped inspire others everywhere to fight for their basic human rights.
His community came together to support him, and now the theatrical community has too, creating this uplifting show, Prom Queen: The Musical, about him at the Centre Segal. Though you know the ending, playwright Kent Staines still keeps you riveted, not in a “straight” line as you might think, but through the anguish of growing up in high school for all kinds of kids. He sums up Marc’s struggles, having him declare, “I’m not leading a lifestyle, I’m leading a life”.
Lyricist Akiva Romer-Segal and composer Coleen Dauncey, besties since high school, are really good at “song spotting” – moving the story along through perfectly placed musical moments. They captured his heartache succinctly in one fun tightly choreographed number which proclaimed “Show the world what you are about from the inside out”.
Choreographer Sean Cheesman (So You Think You Can Dance judge/star) uses the entire set upstairs, downstairs and with great big animated packs of people in a fun bright young bouncy way through many dance styles of the 2000’s: R&B, pop-punk, rock, country and of course, his own interpretation of those movements.
Allessandro Costantini captures Marc Hall brilliantly and playfully understood where he came from. For he, too, was a ground-breaking kid who took on the world at 16. When he realized his high school would not let him mount the musical “Hair”, he approached the mayor of his town to start a theater company for young audiences: YES Theatre in Sudbury is now in its 8th year.
As for the real life Marc Hall, what are his thoughts about all this? He says, “it’s more about being able to continue that conversation”, and “I am just thrilled that so much positivity has come from my experience”. Think about it – in the 14 years which have passed, we now have, TV shows starring LGBTQ actors, gay marriage, Pride parades in many towns, and gender neutral bathrooms.
Dance right over to the Segal to watch this diverse cast in its rainbow of colors, sizes, and shapes recount a story which must be re-told and disseminated. As the lyrics proclaim, “We could be oblivious or we can be infinite”. Marc Hall chose the latter. The students responded with, “The more they try to silence us, the louder we get”. Prom Queen: The Musical, instructs our youth to “break the rules, break the mold”, and we are watching as they change our world one kid at at time.
Location: Segal Centre, 5170 ch. de la Cote-Ste-Catherine, Montreal H3W 1M7
Dates: til Nov 20
Phone: 514-739-7944
Tickets: $51-$65, group, senior, student and under 30 discounts available
www.segalcentre.org
Metro: Cote-Ste-Catherine, Snowdon Bus: 129, 51, 17
