Everybody Deserves A Chance To Celebrate at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse
April 17, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Grab your prom date and step into the world of glitter, fantastic music, and high-energy dance with the hilarious musical The Prom. This heartwarming celebration of love and inclusivity will take the stage at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse from May 17 to June 11.
“We’re excited to bring this joyful celebration to the stage in St. Jacobs,” says Alex Mustakas, Drayton Entertainment Artistic Director & CEO. “The Prom is packed with dazzling dance numbers, glitzy costumes, over-the-top characters, and hilarious moments – all wrapped around a heart-warming story about inclusivity, love, and what it means to be true to yourself. Audiences will be cheering and dancing by the end.”
Four narcissistic Broadway stars are in desperate need of a new stage. So when they hear that trouble is brewing around a small-town prom, they know it’s time to put a spotlight on the issue – and themselves. The town’s parents want to keep the high school dance on the straight and narrow, but when one student just wants to bring her girlfriend to prom, the entire town has a date with destiny.
Heading up the Prom Committee is Director and Choreographer David Connolly. Connolly has helmed many other hits for Drayton Entertainment, including Disney’s Newsies, Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Wizard of Oz: The Panto and many more. Connolly is joined by Music Director Steve Thomas, Set Designer David Boechler, Costume Designers Anne Roth and Matthew Pachtman, and Lighting Designer Kaileigh Krysztofiak, Stage Manager Dustyn Wales, Assistant Stage Manager Sadie Wannamaker, and Apprentice Stage Manager Molly Mück.
A stellar cast has been assembled for this production. Annika Tupper appears as the warm-hearted Emma Nolan, a high school senior who simply wishes to bring her girlfriend to the prom. Tupper is a soon-to-be graduate of Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program.
Jillian Cooper takes on the role of Alyssa Greene, the girlfriend that Emma dreams of taking to the prom. Cooper is a recent graduate of Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre program. The Prom marks both Tupper’s and Cooper’s Drayton Entertainment debut.
Blythe Wilson is the delightfully self-involved “Tony® Award Winner” Dee Dee Allen. Wilson recently appeared in Drayton Entertainment’s Mamma Mia and has appeared on stage for Mirvish Productions, the Stratford Festival, and in Disney’s Mary Poppins on Broadway.
Andrew Scanlon is “Drama Desk Award Winner” Barry Glickman, a self-absorbed Broadway actor eager to use activism to promote his career. Scanlon has appeared in many Drayton Entertainment productions, including The Drowsy Chaperone, Man of La Mancha, Footloose, and Les Misérables. Elsewhere, he has appeared in the National Tour of Kinky Boots and at numerous other theatres across the country.
Jackie Mustakas is Broadway musical star Angie Dickinson. Mustakas appeared as Donna in Mamma Mia! at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse last fall and in many other Drayton Entertainment productions including Jack and the Beanstalk: The Panto, Hairspray, and The Rainmaker.
Eric Craig appears as esteemed Julliard graduate/cater waiter Trent Oliver. Craig makes his Drayton Entertainment debut in The Prom and was previously part of the original Broadway Cast of Paradise Square, as well as the Toronto and National Tour casts of Matilda.
Geoffrey Whynot is Sheldon, Broadway’s Press Agent with a plan. Whynot has appeared as Maurice in Beauty and the Beast and Amos in Chicago and Juror #4 in Twelve Angry Men for Drayton Entertainment.
Joining them on stage is Cassel Miles as high school principal Mr. Hawkins, and Rebecca Poff as Alyssa’s mother and president of the PTA, Mrs. Green. Miles is no stranger to the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse stage, having appeared as Lt. John Stokes in this season’s production of American Son, and as Hoke in the 2022 production of Driving Miss Daisy. Poff has most recently appeared as Mother Abbess in the 2022 Drayton Entertainment production of The Sound of Music, and Patsy Cline in the 2021 production of A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline.
Rounding out the phenomenal cast is Hadley Mustakas as Kaylee, and Berkley Silverman as Shelby, popular cheerleaders and local mean girls.
The parents and teens of the town are played by Devin Alexander, Jean Blandon, Travis Brooks, Jarret Cody, Alyssa Curto, Robyn Esson, Mark Harapiak, Belle Lemieux-Chan, Ashley St. John, Eamon Stocks, Trayvon Ward, and Savanna Wright.
Inspired by a true story, the concept for The Prom was developed by Broadway producer Jack Viertel after seeing news reports about gay students not being allowed to attend their proms. The Prom features music by Matthew Sklar (Elf: The Musical, The Wedding Singer) lyrics by Chad Beguelin (Disney’s Aladdin, Elf: The Musical, The Wedding Singer) and book by Beguelin and Bob Martin (Elf: The Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone). The show premiered in Atlanta in 2016, and opened on Broadway in November 2018. It was nominated for seven Tony® Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. A movie version starring James Corden, Nicole Kidman, and Meryl Streep, was released on Netflix in 2020.
The Prom is proudly sponsored by One For The Wall and Document Imaging Partners. The Media Sponsors are CHYM 96.7, Waterloo Chronicle, and The Beat 91.5. The Design Sponsor is Courtyard by Marriott.
The Prom is on stage at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse from May 17th to June 11th.
Regular performance tickets are $55 for adults, $34 for youth under 20 years of age. Tickets for select Discount Dates and groups of 20 or more are $45, and small groups of 10-19 are $50. HST is applicable to all ticket prices. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at 519-747-7788 or toll free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866), or online instantly at www.draytonentertainment.com.
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