London audiences will get their first glimpse of new musical Prom Queen when the show is performed in workshop form at The Other Palace next month ahead of a planned Broadway run.
Announcing the workshop presentation on Monday 2 July, The Other Palace’s artistic director Paul Taylor-Mills said: “I came across Prom Queen at The National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival in New York last October. This real-life story, exploring how we change outdated perceptions of gender and sexuality, is a familiar one that we’re seeing in a lot of new musicals.
“I couldn’t help but be completely taken by this contemporary score set against a relevant and important story and am so excited to be workshopping it at The Other Palace with this wonderful cast.”
Taylor Mills will also direct the performance which features Tony-nominated Lauren Ward (Matilda), Nathan Amzi (In The Heights), Caroline Sheen (Mary Poppins), Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) and Natalie Douglas (The Beautiful Game).
The cast also includes Cameron Burt, Danielle Fiamanya, Ethan Scott, William May, Liam Gartland, Tom White, Frances Gilbert, Carine Gilbert, Lucy Smith, Emma Davies, Martha Kirby, Ben Addington, Matthew Runcom, Micheal Bowie, and students from The Guildford School of Acting, where Taylor-Mills is on the advisory board.
Inspired by the true story of a Canadian teenager who hit the headlines when he took his local school board to court when they refused to let him attend prom with his boyfriend, Prom Queen has a book by Kent Staines, with music by Colleen Dauncey and lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal. The show is produced by Mary Young Leckie who previously worked with writer Staines on a well-received TV movie presentation of the story, Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story.
The musical was first produced by The Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal, Quebec (2016) after development workshops at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario (2015), The Canadian Music Theatre Project (CMTP) at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario (2014) and a Playwright Residency at Young People’s Theatre in Toronto, Ontario (2008).
Prom Queen received the 2016 Pechet Musical Award from the Playwrights Guild of Canada and is currently nominated for four Montreal English Theatre Awards (META), including for Outstanding New Text (book and lyrics) and Outstanding Production.
Angela Thomas
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