The Prom Director Casey Nicholaw Talks Turkey About Thanksgivings Big Broadway Smooch – Deadline Q&A

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Not even Santa Claus or gusty winds could compete. The Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday drew the kind of post-parade buzz usually reserved for balloon blunders or temperature woes. This year, Broadway stole the show, with the parades first-ever same-sex kiss capping a performance from The Prom, the charming musical from director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw. Based loosely on a real-life incident, The Prom follows a troupe of hilariously self-obsessed theater stars of a certain age who swarm into a small conservative Indiana town in support of a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.

The musicals big finale, bringing together the entire cast in song and dance, hits its high note when the girls (played by Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla) embrace and kiss, a bit of tenderness captured on live TV that immediately became a social media “Did you see that?” moment.

Prom cast member Josh Lamon tweeted yesterday, “The first #LGBTQ kiss in the Parades history. We here at @ThePromMusical have never been so proud.”

Others in the Broadway community, including Patti Murin, who plays Princess Anna in the musical Frozen, soon responded. “This was the most beautiful, inspiring performance on the parade. I was full on sobbing on my couch…

This was the most beautiful, inspiring performance on the parade. I was full on sobbing on my couch. So happy for you guys, and I cant wait to experience the show for myself

— Patti Murin (@PattiMurin) November 22, 2018

Of course, there were haters. “Gross” and “I weep for the culture” were among the responses to Lamons tweet. Right-wing Christian radio host and blogger Linda Harvey wrote on her website that “we werent allowed to enjoy [the parade] before the incessant homosexual agenda was thrust into Americas face,” and called on her followers to boycott Macys this holiday season.

Today, Lamon tweeted, “Yesterday was remarkable. It was also difficult. I was targeted by hate groups, ambushed with awful messages and became even more proud of who I am and the incredible show I am lucky to be a part of….”

Yesterday was remarkable. It was also difficult. I was targeted by hate groups, ambushed with awful messages and became even more proud of who I am and the incredible show I am lucky to be apart of. Be proud of who you are. Never be afraid to show all your beautiful colors. https://t.co/G4qlwwGwHW

— Josh Lamon (@JoshLamon) November 23, 2018

Deadline spoke to Nicholaw this afternoon. Though his other Broadway productions currently include Mean Girls, Aladdin and, as co-director, The Book of Mormon, today was all about The Prom.

The conversation has been edited and condensed.

Have you been surprised by the reactions to that kiss?

CASEY NICHOLAW: Ive mostly just read the positive stuff, to tell you the truth, because it means so much to me and I kind of hate knowing there might be an outpouring in the other direction. For me, being a kid who didnt go to his own prom because Im 56 years old and it just wasnt allowed at the time, to be able to see that moment on TV…The first time I watched it on the monitor when we were rehearsing, I just couldnt stop crying. It just moved me so much that we were actually doing it and that we were able to do it, that the people [from Macys] who were in charge of the parade didnt scoff or say, hey, we cant do that.

For me it just was such a huge message that they allowed it and they went for it and were committed to it, and I honestly cannot thank them enough. [His voice cracks] I get so emotional talking about it because I think its a huge step and a brave thing for them to do.

I was watching it live and, having seen The Prom, to be honest it didnt occur to me during the parade that I was watching a big moment. I was watching it as a scene from the musical…

NICHOLAW: Well, me too. You know, we live in our world and we go on with life, and we [on The Prom team] just wanted to go with what was the best number to do, and I thought, “Oh, well do the last number because its got everybody in the cast in it and it will be fantastic.” Then as we were thinking about it, all of a sudden it occurred to me, “Oh my god, Kiss! Kiss or no kiss? What do we do?” I kept thinking we were going to get a No Kiss from [Macys], and then when we rehearsed it, and the people from the parade came to watch, we thought lets just do it and see what happens. And nobody said anything to us.

Did they bring it up at all?

NICHOLAW: No, they didnt. They had already seen the show, so they knew what it was, and they knew when we said we were going to do the finale what that was going to be. But I have to honestly say I didnt know what that moment would be until were were rehearsing the number on the street in front of Macys, and I was watching the monitor and when the two girls came into each other, I was just like, “Wow, this is huge,” and I know this is huge because I suddenly put myself in the audience, as if I was watching it from home.

No matter how long The Prom runs — and hopefully its a huge hit and is going to run a long time because thats what we all want with every show we do — but just the idea of how many people we are reaching, how many kids we are reaching, and theyve been so responsive…People have been sending me responses from teens and high school students over the last two days and its been amazing. I think, wow, weve been able to make some people who feel marginalized feel OK. And that to me means everything.

A very wise colleague of mine has long said that the Macys Thanksgiving Parade offers more visibility for Broadway than even the Tony Awards. You scored a jackpot there.

NICHOLAW: I feel like we did and we didnt even really set out to do that. We set out to do our favorite number, you know what I mean? It was, “Lets do the number that includes the most,” and it turned out to be the one that really included the most. Who knew?

Has there been an uptick in ticket sales today?

NICHOLAW: I hope so. I texted one of our producers but havent heard yet.

I cant imagine there wouldnt be.

NICHOLAW: I cant imagine there wouldnt be either.

Was there any trepidation or nervousness on your part or the casts about security, catcalls, things like that?

NICHOLAW: You sort of get used to the fact that anytime you do anything risky, that kind of thing could happen. I think if the product is good, youre going to win out. When we did Book of Mormon we were so nervous – are we going to be picketed? And it didnt happen. The product was good. At least you hope thats the reason.

I think you just have to send the message you want to send, and follow what the story dictates and what drew you to something in the first place.

Have you spoken to Caitlin or Isabelle since yesterday?

NICHOLAW: No, Im actually in Alaska at the moment. But they were so thrilled. We all had such a bonding moment at rehearsal Monday night on the street in front of Macys. It just was like, look what were doing. I think thats when it sunk in for all of us.

Josh Lamon tweeted today that he has been targeted by hate groups with awful messages, but that it only makes him prouder of the show…

NICHOLAW: Of course. There will always be people and groups like that, negative about everything. Everyone is so anxious to hate these days. So I choose not to go there, especially when its about something weve been working on for seven years and means so much to us.

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