REVIEW: On Your Feet Australia Presents the Australian Premiere of Feel Good Musical THE PROM

Saturday 28th March 2026, 7:30pm, Teatro At The Italian Forum Leichhardt

THE PROM, the hilarious new musical with a heartwarming outcome from Matthew Sklar (Music), Chad Beguelin (Lyrics and Book) and Bob Martin (Book), finally arrives in Australia, premiering at the new Teatro At The Italian Forum Theatre in Leichhardt.  Directed by Andrew Bevis and co-directed and choreographed by Nathan M. Wright with musical direction from Bev Kennedy, this production for On Your Feet Australia is a stunning introduction to the new space and new theatre company.

The third production for Bevis and Wright’s new theatre company, THE PROM is a perfect work to pair emerging Australian talent with seasoned performers.  The musical which premiered on Broadway in 2018 and was inspired by the 2010 Itawamba County School District Prom Controversy, is about four Broadway actors and their manager wanting a way to revive their tainted image as self-absorbed narcissists after Dee Dee Allen (Caroline O’Connor) and Barry Glickman (Brendan Monger) get scathing reviews and their new musical closes on opening night.  After discounting more arduous activities like Habitat for Humanity, perennial chorus girl Angie Dickinson (Bella McSporran) finds a twitter trend about Emma (Sophie Montague), a teen from Edgewater, Indiana, who’s Prom has been cancelled because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date, a scandal in the Bible Belt town and the quintet set off to make waves and get their names in the media for doing good deeds.  The problem is that the quintet really are narcissists and end up causing more chaos and heartache in a community where the conservative PTA refuse to respect the orders of the State Attorney General. 

The Teatro at the Italian Forum Theatre stage shimmers with Set Designer Nick Fry’s walls covered with metallic paillettes in brilliantly bold tones which provides a perfect backdrop to the opening scene of the Opening Night party for Allen and Glickman’s new musical and remains as a reminder of the flash and sparkle of Broadway even when the New Yorker’s arrive in the sleepy little town of Edgewater.  With the story in Edgewater centring on Emma’s school, the walls of sequins reveal an artful array of pastel lockers that hold other secrets and surprises.  This contrast of flash with conservatism flows through to Cornelia Cassimatis’ costume design that has the visitors always bearing sequins and shine and bold colours while the locals wear more muted tones with the popular girls either wearing the stereotypical cheerleading outfit or plaid skirts in pastel tones.

Bevis and Wright have ensured that this work has the right balance of energy and sensitivity and the casting is perfect.  As the Broadway Diva, Caroline O’Connor is an absolute treat.  Her comedy prowess, vocal perfection and dance skills all come together for a delightfully over the top performance that has a nuance and naturalness with every action and response feeling intuitive.  She has a wonderful ability to chew the scenery with a degree of vaudeville to her style yet is wonderfully endearing when she works out her usual approach won’t work with Principal Tom Hawkins (Scott Irwin) as she discovers that he’s seen through her ‘act’ and may not like the ‘real’ Dee Dee.  Matching Dee Dee’s diva energy is queen and Broadway co-star Barry and Brendan Monger channels Nathan Lane for a gloriously camp performance as the successful actor that has never gotten over not being accepted for who he is in his youth and missing out on his own Prom.  While Dee Dee is all frenetic energy wanting her reputation to be changed, Barry connects with Emma and Monger has some beautiful scenes with Sophie Montague.

As Angie, Bella McSporran captures the essence of the leggy blonde chorus girl and delivers the Fosse inspired Zazz with Sophie Montague with precision and playfulness.  As the unsuccessful actor and Julliard graduate Trent, Thern Reynolds is delightfully camp and leads the key scene where the school community is ‘converted’ with over the top energy.  Rounding out the New York contingent is Brad Green as Sheldon Saperstein who presents more as an anchor for the performers. 

Of the Edgewater adults, Principal Tom Hawkins and PTA president Mrs Greene, mother to Emma’s love interest, are the core characters, with minor roles of PTA parents presented by the ensemble.  As Mrs Greene, Erin Bruce ensures that conservative homophobic single mother is seen as uptight and unrelenting.  As Principal Hawkins, Scott Irwin presents a grounded sensible figure of reason and balance among the chaos and presents a contrast to Dee Dee’s hyperbole as their relationship develops from that of celebrity and fan to something more honest and real.

As the central character, Sophie Montague is fabulous as Emma.  The emerging young performer is definitely one to watch as they deserve to rise to great success.  They have a brilliant and bold voice, perfect acting intuition and great dance abilities.  They are the complete package for a musical theatre performer plus having that extra something that just makes them captivate to watch.  They ensure that Emma is both confident and cautious, reflective of Emma’s age and experiences being shunned from her family when she came out but thankfully accepted by her grandmother. 

As Emma’s love interest Paige Fallu makes the most of the smaller role, ensuring that Alyssa Greene is seen as the perfect daughter and student but torn between being able to be herself and not daring to go up against her mother who has guilted her into striving for perfection.  Alyssa’s fellow cheerleaders are presented by Nina Hurley as Kaylee, the queen bee bitch, and her follower Shelby, presented by Abbey McPherson.  Hurley and McPherson draw on the stereotypes of popular teen girls made famous by American teen movies, delivering attitude aplenty. 

While this work does centre on the central story of Emma and the New Yorkers' desire to get her a Prom, this is also very much an ensemble work and as Choreographer, Nathan M. Wright ensures that the ensemble bring the energy to this production with a surprisingly large cast for the space yet he’s ensured that the choreography doesn’t feel overcrowded but sufficient to indicate the depth of the community that Emma, Principal Hawkins and their new ‘friends’ are up against. 

THE PROM is a wonderful production sharing heartwarming messages of acceptance and humility, love and hope and is a must see for all ages.  It is a fabulous opportunity to see theatre greats like Caroline O’Connor and discover the next generation of musical theatre stars like Sophie Montague.  As a new theatre space, Teatro is a great new venue and this production proves that the venue and it’s production company On Your Feet Australia, with its co-founders and co-artistic directors Wright and Bevis, have the capability to deliver work of a incredible standard and BroadwayWorld Australia looks forward to seeing what else this new company delivers. 

The Prom – Teatro At The Italian Forum

Photos: Robert Miniter

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