The Prom

A Novel Based on the Hit Broadway Musical

By: Saundra Mitchell, Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, Matthew Sklar

Narrated by: Caitlin Kinnunen, Isabelle McCalla, Beth Leavel, Joshua Lamon, Tara Sands

Length: 6 hrs

Publisher's summary

An honest, laugh-out-loud, feel-good novel inspired by the Tony-nominated musical The Prom, read by members of the original Broadway cast!

Seventeen-year-old Emma Nolan wants only one thing before she graduates: to dance with her girlfriend at the senior prom. But in her small town of Edgewater, Indiana, that's like asking for the moon.

Alyssa Greene is her high school's "it" girl: popular, head of the student council, and daughter of the PTA president. She also has a secret. She's been dating Emma for the last year and a half.

When word gets out that Emma plans to bring a girl as her date, it stirs a community-wide uproar that spirals out of control. Now, the PTA, led by Alyssa's mother, is threatening to cancel the prom altogether.

Enter Barry Glickman and Dee Dee Allen, two Broadway stars who decide to take up the cause and get a little publicity along the way. But when they arrive in Indiana to fight on Emma's behalf, their good intentions go quickly south.

Between Emma facing the fray head-on, Alyssa wavering about coming out, and Barry and Dee Dee basking in all the attention, it's the perfect prom storm. Only when this unlikely group comes together do they realize that love is always worth fighting for.

Read by Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla, with Beth Leavel, Joshua Lamon, and Tara Sands. Includes an interview of Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin, and Matthew Sklar from the musical’s creative team conducted by cast member Joshua Lamon.

©2019 Saundra Mitchell, Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar (P)2019 Listening Library

AMAZING

Honestly I was surprised by how much I liked this, I am a huge fan of both the stage production of The Prom and the Netflix movie. This book definitely gave some fanfic vibes but in a good way. I love how you can go in depth on what Emma and Alysa were feeling at certain parts of the plot. It is based on the musical so obviously it isn’t the exact same story line but it honestly feels more organized and shows more of the Emma and Alysa as a couple which I loved. I loved hearing the back story on where it all began for the two of them since it was not really brought up in the musical. We are still given the remarkable moments that make the musical (and book) so special!! I also would like to mention how AMAZING Caitlin and Isabelle were, when I first heard them I totally geeked out!!!!! Over all it was such an amazing 6 hours and would totally recommend to everyone!!

Promtastic!

Having seen The Prom on Broadway, this book did a great job with the back story to everything in the show. It answered some questions, and made Emma and Alyssa even more lovable as if that’s even possible. Just like the stage production, it brought laughs and tears. Hearing Caitlin and Izzy do the audiobook was icing on the cake. Well done!

Loved it

I love that it actually went into Emma and Allyssa more. Just all around a really good listen. I am gayer than a bucket of wigs

The Prom ROCKS

After seeing the show in person and meeting Caitlin in person, the book truly melted my heart all over again!

Not the best version but still has show’s spirit

I absolutely LOVE the musical The Prom. While I love Wicked and Hairspray more, The Prom is a close third, telling a serious & heartfelt story while having fun and having great songs and music. I fell in love listening to the cast album, then I fell in love again seeing the tour and, while I don’t agree with every change made, I can recommend getting Netflix for a month to enjoy a 95% true adaptation. I was intrigued when I heard about this novelization because, other than loving The Prom, I didn’t hear about a lot of musicals adapted into novels (Dear Evan Hansen and Annie being the only other ones I can think of) so I had plenty of reason to give this a purchase.

The Prom is the story of, among other things (that’ll be important later), Emma Nolan wanting to take her girlfriend Alyssa Greene to the prom. The problem is that they live in a homophobic town, Alyssa hasn’t come out yet, and the PTA threatens to cancel Prom over Emma taking a girl. Oh, and the person leading the PTA and the crusade for a heteronormative prom is Alyssa’s mom. Saundra Mitchell, knowing she has more time in her novel than Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin, and Matthew Sklar had with a stage musical, does a very good job expanding Emma and Alyssa’s story. Having both girls narrating, she shows what happened before the musical to set up how they meet and showing what’s either revealed in exposition or implication.

It does make significant changes that still fit in the spirit of the musical. The most significant is Alyssa taking more of a role to help Emma, setting up the community meeting to discuss Emma taking a girl to prom and has a more active role in the climax (no spoilers ;) ). Another significant change is, because Alyssa narrates half the story, the story going more in depth into her mother’s mindset and helps flesh out her motivations so it’s a little easier to understand what she does at the story’s mid-point. We also get more of Emma’s Nan, a sweet caring woman who came in when Emma needed her and is probably the one thing the novel (and movie) had that I wish the stage show did.

As I said, everything is in the spirit of the musical. It’s serious but has fun as well. Emma and Alyssa have more chances to show off their wit to make up for the fact the novel can’t include the music. Even with the changes, things still progress mostly like the show. There are moments where the songs’ lyrics are reused as dialogue or narration without being out of place that I thought were a nice touch. There were a few times, mostly early in the book, where it winked at the fact that it was adapted from a musical that made me chuckle. Most importantly, the story in general gave me the same warm feeling I got from both the stage show and movie. If that’s not the mark of a good adaptation, I don’t know what is.

That said, this is far from perfect for two very big reasons, reasons I think fans of the musical can surmise by the lack of mention in my review so far...

A lack of Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman.

Yeah, in the stage and film versions, the story was ALSO about a bunch of narcissistic Broadway actors who look for a cause to fight for to improve their public image. This sets them up to meet Emma and have their own character development alongside her and Alyssa.

They’re not completely written out and still play major parts. However, the setup for their involvement is only an interview with them at the start of the novel and the news their musical tanked then they’re gone for almost half of the book. Again, the expansion of Emma and Alyssa’s stories works great in novel form. My question is “Why not expand Dee Dee & Barry’s stories as well?” It wouldn’t be so bad if they’re only a background presence throughout the novel but they still come to the same conclusion (being selfless just for the heck of it and because they care about Emma) and the novel wants us to care as much as Emma and Alyssa’s conclusion without the earlier set-up. Novels can be grandiose and big so I felt a novelization could’ve expanded Dee Dee & Barry’s stories alongside Emma & Alyssa’s. Dee Dee has little contact with Emma & Alyssa that she could've almost have been cut out.

I’ll give some credit; the reveal to Emma and Alyssa about Principal Hawkins and Dee Dee’s romance is cute. Also, there were two more Broadway actors who joined Dee Dee & Barry (Angie Dickinson & Trent Oliver) who are completely cut from the novel but their parts are combined well with Dee Dee (making a reference to the song “Zazz” in place of Angie) and Barry (the star of TV’s ‘Talk to the Hand’ and the one who talks to the kids later in the story). In addition, they’re still the same characters as the other versions, with Barry still bonding with Emma and being a replacement father.

As you can guess, I experienced this in its audiobook format and can say it was great. I always applaud when an audiobook to an established franchise brings back actors/actresses to narrate them and The Prom didn’t disappoint with the return of original Broadway cast members Caitlin Kinnunen (Emma) and Isabelle McCalla (Alyssa) narrating their respective characters’ chapters. Beth Leavel (Dee Dee) is also involved with the interviews (with an interviewer played by Tara Sands) that start and end the story and Josh Lamon (the absent from the novel Sheldon Saperstein) interviews the creative team to end the book itself.

Caitlin & Isabelle are both excellent narrators. They don't make huge changes with their voices for different characters and it’s sometimes hard to make out who’s who when their narrating for their own character talking with the other main character (ie, Emma with Alyssa or vice versa), but they are still great narrators. They nail everyone’s emotions, ESPECIALLY their original characters when they talk about their love for their girlfriend and their fears about going through their day or how certain revelations could make a major change in their life. MAYBE other actresses could’ve done just as good a job but Caitlin & Isabelle know their characters and the story very well and I can’t imagine anyone else narrating the story as well... although I don’t doubt Jo Ellen Pellman (film Emma) & Ariana DeBose (film Alyssa) also doing a great job at it.

One other thing I HAVE to talk about; the music. Other than Star Wars audiobooks, every audiobook I’ve listened to seems to compose new music for their intro and outro. I’m sure it’s cheaper than licensing music but it made the fan in me soar hearing The Prom’s overture open and close the book. However, that was NOTHING compared to the fact a portion of a song is ACTUALLY SUNG in the audiobook. At the risk of spoiling what song and when, it actually fits the story in a diegetic sense (ie, it’s a song to both the characters and the audience) and extends the song’s power by showing how it affected Emma & Alyssa’s classmates in addition to queer teens outside the town. All in all, I was not expecting ANY music from the show so what’s here was a pleasant surprise.

EDIT (2/6/2023): I realized I made an error: the song is not actually the song that happens at that point in the musical. That said, it's repurposed for the moment and worked so well... well, I didn't realize the switch. I just wanted to speak up in case anyone noticed and thought I was trying to trick people.

All in all, I have to recommend this to fans of the show/movie/cast album and anyone who likes a feel-good teen romance. While losing a good portion of the story is not a good thing, there’s too much still in here and expanded on to trash completely. Just know that it’s not a perfect adaptation but, like the show & movie, by the end you’ll feel warm inside (sorry for spoilers :) ) and be glad you read/listened to it. You’ll feel so good you’ll probably (and I apologize but if the audiobook can include one of the show’s songs, why can’t my review :D)...

“You’ll say cue the drums
And take to the floor
That's what the floor's for
It's time to dance.”

PS: Seriously, the film’s worth a month’s subscription to Netflix :)

Amazing performance, okay writing

So the performance is definitely the best part of this audiobook. The writing is odd, and the flow is not always the best, but the narrators makes it way better.

The musical is also so much better, and I highly recommend checking it out if you're interested in this story. But if you want a story about 2 lesbians with a happy ending, this is not the worst book you can listen to.

I love it

I love it as a queer teen my self I do relate to it not everybody gets to have accepting parents

The story telling is AMAZING

❤️❤️❤️ love the voices it really captures the diffrent characters especially Alyssa reading the mom if that is one person. Wow.

I loved this book

it was such a heartwarming book and I highly recommend, especially if you are part of the lgbtq+ community or any community that faces regular struggles

My little heart is dancing

I love this book! This made me happy every single time. Thank you for the amazing listen