music by Colleen Dauncey, lyrics by Akiva Romer-Segal, book by Kent Staines, directed by Dennis Garnhum

High School Project, Grand Theatre, London

September 21-29, 2018

“Only a Boy”

London’s Grand Theatre High School Project is presenting a very special show to kick off the Grand’s 2018/19 season.  It is Prom Queen: The Musical, the first full production in Ontario of the musical based on the Marc Hall story of 2002.  Not only did the real-life events behind the musical take place in Ontario, but the High School Project (HSP) provides a unique opportunity to see high school students playing high school students – a fact that lends an undeniable ring of authenticity to the show that a cast of professionals could simply not achieve.  The energy and enthusiasm of the entire cast is overwhelming and their total commitment to telling this story is rock-solid.  They know they are telling an important story and it shows. 

Marc Hall’s travails began in a very simple way.  In 2002, Hall at age 17, already out as a young gay man to his school friends in Oshawa, wanted to ask his 21-year-old boyfriend Jean-Paul Dumond as his date to the high school prom.  He submitted the name of his date as did all the other students, but the Durham Catholic District School Board refused him saying that homosexuality was against Church principles. 

When the case began to garner media attention, the gay activist and lawyer David Corbett took on Hall’s case pro bono and argued that school boards that receive public funding cannot be allowed to discriminate.  On May 10, 2002, the presiding judge ruled not only that Hall be allowed to attend the prom with Dumond but that the school could not cancel the prom as it had threatened to do.

The case was seen as a home-grown victory for human rights and was made into a documentary in 2002 and then a television movie in 2004.  In 2014 composer Colleen Dauncey, lyricist Akiva Romer-Segal and book author Kent Staines had begun workshopping a musical based on the story.  The musical had its world premiere at the Segal Centre in Montreal in 2016 to sold-out houses and widespread acclaim.

Watching the HSP production it is easy to see why the musical should have been so popular.  Dauncey and Romer-Segal fill the show with songs from solos to duets and choruses made up of clever lyrics set to music in a wide range of styles from ballads to anthems to dance tracks.  Several of the songs are quite beautiful.  One of the best is “Infinite”, the song Marc sings about his love for his boyfriend.  When it is reprised by Marc’s otherwise uncommunicative father about his love for his son, it’s very hard to watch with dry eyes. 

The song given to Marc’s mother “Mother Mary”, in which she seeks guidance amid all the confusion surrounding Marc’s case, has an ecclesiastical tone quite different from the other songs that helps show that the family’s support of Marc does not involve a loss of faith.  The duet between Marc’s friends Carly and Boomer, “The Old You”, about returning to the love they used to have, could easily become a successful pop song.  The chorus “No Exceptions” in which the high schoolers take the school principal’s favourite expression and use it to protest against her is very clever.  And the song “Only a Boy” given to Marc as his key personal statement in support of his case at the hearing, is a no-holds-barred, emotional showstopper.

Kent Staines’s book has broadened the topic so that we see the impact of Marc’s simple request on his family, friends, school and even his father’s workmates.  Staines depicts Marc Hall (Devon Dixon) as a bright, happy high schooler, so at ease with himself that he doesn’t realize that his request to invite his boyfriend, here renamed Jason (Damon Guidolin), will cause any problem.  Here for the first time he learns that the strict school principal, Principal  Warrick (Leyla Boyacigil), and his priest Father Hopkins  (Matthew Van Bussel), consider his “lifestyle” an “abomination” – a blow to his sense of self that leaves him reeling.

Luckily, Staines provides Marc with a bubbly gal pal Carly (Marcy Gallant), who is his main confidante.  Staines creates a parallel story to Marc’s with Carly and a self-confident young guy Boomer Bronson, who were once together, but broke up because of a misunderstanding.  Carly says she will agree to go to the prom with Boomer if he can help Marc go to the prom with Jason.  Boomer’s efforts mobilize Carly’s friends Kristal (Maddie Daley) and Tiff (Amber Sellers) and their prom dates Napoleon (Tanner Hamlin) and Triple (Isaac Van Deven) who generate internet publicity that attracts the attention of Marc’s unstoppably upbeat lawyer, here renamed Lonnie Wynn (Bradley Amesse). 

Staines is careful not to make Marc’s victory appear easy.  In fact, he reveals opposition to Marc both inside and outside the school.  Marc may have a supportive teacher like Ms. Lawrence (Dominique Delben) on the faculty, but Staines creates the religiously rigid student Otis Day (Jack Crim), who enjoys telling Marc on every occasion that Marc is going to hell.  Similarly, while Marc has the support of his mother Emily (Sarah Dennison) right from the start, his father Audy (Matt de Kort) has to struggle to come around to the idea.  Audy’s co-workers mostly support Audy, his son and Marc’s boyfriend and fellow co-worker Jason, but Staines includes another co-worker called Hank (Josh Larizza) who calls Marc “The Blue Fairy” (because of Marc’s blue-dyed hair) and hurls abuse at Jason.     

One wishes Staines would give us more information about Marc and Jason’s backstory.  Marc is a 17-year-old high school student and Jason a 21-year-old auto worker.  Marc is out at school while Jason is not out to anyone but Marc.  The first scene between Marc and Jason makes it clear that the two have completely different tastes in music, dress and hobbies.  They may have met on the internet, but how did they fall in love and how did they maintain such a secretive relationship to keep Jason safe from ridicule?

One of the great aspects of the HSP is that the high schoolers on stage and behind the scenes work with theatre professionals.  Dennis Garnhum, Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre, directed and brings his usual kinetic energy and precision to helming a large-cast show.  (There are 50 teens on stage!)  He makes dramatic use of the revolve several times, most notably when Marc sings his plea “Only a Boy” which he begins facing the hearing’s judge at the back.  Then Garnhum rapidly swings Marc around 180º on the revolve so that he sings the remainder of the plea directly to the audience.

David Boechler has designed a set looking like a wooden-floored gymnasium that fills the stage.  The set not only reminds us of where the prom will take place but of the struggles with adversaries that is part of high school sports.  Given this large space Kimberley Purtell’s lighting is absolutely crucial in establishing contrasts between public and private moments. 

Considering the subject of the musical, it is more than ironic that this year the London District Catholic School Board and the Thames Valley District School Board broke with tradition and decided not to fund the HSP giving the reason that the subject was not appropriate for younger students.  The project was out $30,000.  The TVDSB later reversed its decision, but the LDCSB did not.  In response a crowdfunding initiative by rTraction on the internet raised $59,335, the excess funds being used to allow school kids to see the show for free.

Prom Queen: The Musical is thus a celebration on many levels.  First of all, it is a celebration of the amazing talent of the high schoolers both on stage and behind the scenes that makes the musical so emotionally gripping.  Even though they have clearly been well-drilled in movement and choreography, they imbue all they due with an air of spontaneity.  The show is also a celebration of the HSP that for 22 years has been providing a training experience in the performing arts unlike any other in Canada.  It is a celebration of Londoners themselves who pitched in to keep the show going when school boards would not.  It is a celebration of the Canadian musical, the first the HSP has presented.  And finally it is a celebration of the value of diversity which has made Canada as a nation both welcoming and strong.  Join in this celebration and don’t delay seeing a show whose importance shines far beyond London and Ontario.            

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This overview is a Stage Door exclusive.  There is no star rating for the show because the HSP does not allow theatre critics to rate its shows. 

Photos: (from top) Devon Dixon as Marc Hall and Damon Guidolin as Jason; Bradley Amesse as Kevin Wynn, Devon Dixon as Marc Hall and the ensemble; Devon Dixon as Marc Hall, Marcy Gallant and the ensemble. ©2018 Dahlia Katz.

For tickets, visit http://grandtheatre.com.