Trivia / The Prom

• Billing Displacement:
  • Nicole Kidman is billed ahead of Andrew Rannells, Keegan-Michael Key, and Ariana DeBose despite all three playing bigger roles.
  • While she gets a nice "introducing" credit in the opening, the end credits group up Jo Ellen Perlman with Ariana DeBose. This is despite DeBose's role being a supporting one and Perlman being the true lead of the piece. This can be defended though as the end credits are done in character, so those two being linked up makes sense, even if DeBose's placement puts Perlman lower than where she actually is in terms of prominence.
    • Of course, this explanation doesn't entirely work since viewers could easily point out that Meryl Streep and Keegan-Michael Key aren't paired up despite their characters being each other's dates, with both bigger names getting individual credits instead.
• Box Office Bomb: The Broadway production cost $13.5 million and has closed after nine months, not recouping its costs.
• Chewing the Scenery: Every single one of the actors playing the New York characters, with relish.
• Cut Song:
  • The movie cuts out two-thirds of "The Acceptance Song", as well as the final chorus of "You Happened". Fortunately, the full versions of both songs are still included in the soundtrack.
  • The show included a second reprise of "Changing Lives", sung by the actors after they chip in for the second prom. This song was sadly omitted from both the film and its soundtrack.
  • In earlier stagings of the show, "You Happened" was originally sung by just Emma and Alyssa with different lyrics.
• The Danza: Angie Schworer as Angie. Made funnier by the reveal that the character was actually based on her to begin with!
• Dawson Casting: Almost all the actors playing the high school kids, some more than others. Ariana DeBose, for example was almost 30 when the film premiered.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Isabelle McCalla, while not having the biggest role in the cast, has gained a lot of fans for her emotional portrayal of Alyssa, Emma's closeted girlfriend.
  • Character-wise, Shelby and Kaylee, the two teens who come furthest in their Heel–Face Turn in act two, are the most beloved of the secondary characters, and have rather large fanbases of their own.
• Fake American: English actor James Corden plays the American Barry Glickman in the film version.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The trailer for the film includes a shot of Angie emerging in a flashy dress during "The Acceptance Song". The number was heavily shortened in the released film, resulting in this scene being cut.
• Playing Against Type: Keegan-Michael Key plays Mr. Hawkins in the film. Typically a comedic actor, he's actually the straight man of the Large Ham cast here.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • Both Brooks Ashmanskas (Barry) and Josh Lamon (Sheldon) are openly gay actors playing explicitly gay characters. Christopher Sieber is also openly gay, but his character Trent's sexuality is never stated in the show.
  • Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla, who play Emma and Alyssa respectively, each came out during the show's run, with Kinnunen preferring not to commit to a label but generally going with "bi/queer" and McCalla eventually confirming that she identifies as bisexual.
  • For the film, there’s Jo Ellen Pellman as Emma, Ariana DeBose as Alyssa, and Kevin Chamberlain as Sheldon. Much like on Broadway, the actor playing Trent (Andrew Rannells) is gay, but, like the play, his sexuality isn't specific.
    • When promoting the film, Rannells referred to Trent as straight, but it’s unclear if that was from the creators, the director, or his own interpretation.
• Starring a Star as a Star:
  • Broadway stars Brooks Ashmanskas (Barry), Beth Leavel (Dee Dee), Christopher Sieber (Trent) and Angie Schworer (Angie) were all in mind when their characters were being created.
  • The film has Meryl Streep as Dee Dee, James Corden as Barry, Nicole Kidman as Angie, and Andrew Rannells as Trent. Unlike the Broadway cast, only Rannells has prior Broadway musical cred. Corden has starred in musical films and Broadway plays, but not a Broadway musical. Both Streep and Kidman have done musical films, but not Broadway musicals, with the former appearing there in straight plays early in her career before working almost entirely as a screen actress after her big break, while the latter has appeared in one straight play.
• What Could Have Been: For the film adaptation:
  • Awkwafina was cast as a gender flipped version of Sheldon, but scheduling issues forced her to back out, with Kevin Chamberlin taking her place.
  • Ariana Grande was announced to be playing Alyssa, but would back out of self on and be replaced by Ariana DeBose.
  • Madelaine Petsch (of Riverdale fame) auditioned for the role of Emma. Her audition tape can be viewed here.