According to Ryan Murphy, he wanted to make a film version of “The Prom” since the moment he saw it on Broadway. Watching the new Netflix movie that resulted from that spark of inspiration, it’s not hard to see why.
The musical, which found a hardcore fan audience despite a less-than-profitable Broadway run, is a piece that is a perfect match for the entertainment mogul’s brand, a frothy mix that exists on the thin line between camp and hokum, blending sharp-edged wit with inspirational sentiment and over-the-top farce with activism.
It’s a queer story with mainstream pop appeal that leans heavily into a love of All Things Broadway. Unless there was also a serial killer thrown in somewhere, how could anything be more Ryan Murphy than that?