Favorite Characters: Trent Oliver (The Prom)

While I can say for sure that Trent won’t make my eventual Top Five of Andrew Rannells roles/performances, he’s definitely my favorite character in the film, and I feel like that would be true even if I hadn’t gone into it looking forward to Rannells the most. It’s kind of an underwritten supporting role in a decent-not-great musical, but Rannells mines this part for all it’s worth.

Barry and Dee Dee, as The Prom’s biggest and most self-involved Broadway stars, are able to be characters with at least a little dimension. By contrast, the second-string stars Trent and Angie are both narrower characters. Each has a “thing,” and most of their material/jokes revolve around that one thing. For Angie, it’s her “always the chorus girl, never the lead” relationship with Chicago, and for Trent, it’s the fact that he went to Julliard and never shuts up about it.

Undoubtedly a theatre type, and it’s a worthwhile joke, although it can stretch thin from repeated use over the course of the film. But Rannells makes it work throughout. Trent is utterly pretentious, waxing poetically (in his mind) about his muse “Lady Theatre,” pointedly quoting The Tempest in casual conversation, and using phrases like, “If I may soliloquize.”

All the Broadway folks in the film have a high opinion of themselves, but while Dee Dee and Barry have the marquee clout to (kind of) justify it, Trent mostly just has his belief in his own staggering training and talent. This is a rather ridiculous man who genuinely thinks that Sondheim will pen a song as a personal favor to him and, when it quickly becomes clear that Sondheim will do no such thing, decides that composing it himself will be the next best thing. Yep.

For someone who’s all about his Craft, Trent is unfortunately (for him) most famous for a dumb mid-2000s sitcom he was in; a little hard to drone about Stanislavsky when people just want to hear his old catchphrase! But it actually comes in handy when the Broadway quartet arrives in Indiana on their self-serving mission to stir up good will for themselves by championing Emma’s cause. Middle America couldn’t be less impressed with Dee Dee’s Tonys or Barry’s Drama Desk, but with Trent, it’s, “Hey, it’s the guy from Talk to the Hand!” The curse of every Serious Actor with a checkered sitcom past.

On paper, there’s not a whole lot to Trent. One basic joke with a handful of funny variations, a lot of background stuff, and two big numbers: one a purposefully-cringeworthy joke of a song, the other a genuine powerhouse that’s worth the price of admission. I said in my original review of the film that “Love Thy Neighbor” is my favorite performance in the movie, and I stand by that. Rannells commits absolutely to the attitude of the number, his dancing is perfectly respectable for someone who’s not really a dancer, and he’s in fantastic voice from start to finish.

But then, “commits absolutely” is kind of the name of the game with this performance. In addition to the fantastic “Love Thy Neighbor,” he sells the hell out of every line, letting Trent’s ridiculous pretension shine through at every moment. Some of his more famous costars in the film go too broad for my tastes, feeling like someone who’s playing to the back row rather than to a camera, but Rannells never ventures into the wrong side of over-the-top. Instead, his line readings and reaction shots are consistently pitched just right, drawing laughs from lines that might not otherwise warrant them.

Rannells has spun plenty of gold from great characters over the years, but he also has a talent for elevating material that’s more middling, and that’s what’s going on here. While The Prom, for me, is an uneven film that mostly still manages to entertain, Trent’s scenes range from delightful to hilarious to showstopping.

The Book of Rannells: The Prom (2020, PG-13)

Just as soon as I started posting about season 2 of Big Mouth while watching the newly-dropped season 4, we’re putting it on hold, because this is apparently Andrew Rannells season – in addition to new Big Mouth and another film he did that I just heard dropped on VOD (most likely next week’s review,) this past week also saw the release of The Prom, another ride for Rannells on the Ryan Murphy train in this adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical.

Broadway stars Dee Dee and Barry are in need of some image rehabilitation after their latest flop. Determined to kick their reputations as self-involved narcissists, they (along with ensemble lifetimer Angie and classically-trained-and-won’t-shut-up-about-it Trent) latch onto a “worthy cause” to rebrand themselves as do-gooders. The cause in question is Emma, a teenage girl from rural Indiana whose PTA canceled her school’s prom rather than let her attend with a girl as her date. As the Broadway folks descend, bringing a media circus with them, Emma herself threatens to get lost in the wake of their tidal waves.

I came into this aware of The Prom and its basic setup, but I didn’t know much of its music beyond the original cast’s Tony performance, which I remember was enjoyable but didn’t really grab me. Having now seen this adaptation of the show, my first impressions of it remain mostly intact, that it’s a well-meaning show that doesn’t fully rise to what I might like it to be (I’m reminded of Allegiance that way, despite them being two wildly different musicals.) Weirdly, that makes it a very apt musical to receive the Murphy treatment, because it often ranges from feeling like a very good episode of Glee to a very subpar episode of Glee. In other words, its heart is by turns schmaltzy and earnestly affecting, and its humor is sometimes clunkily “biting” and sometimes surprisingly sly. Watching the film, there was one than one moment where I was like, “Of course Ryan Murphy would be all over this.”

All that said, I did still come away having had a good time. The cast is giving it their all and mostly acquit themselves quite well, pulling off an overall-successful blend between the film, stage, and film/stage actors in the cast. The biggest names, of course, are Meryl Streep as Dee Dee, James Corden as Barry, and Nicole Kidman as Angie. I have quibbles – Streep lays on Dee Dee’s diva shtick a little thick for my taste, and Kidman doesn’t sell me on the dance moves of a 20-year veteran of the chorus – but if you’re gonna cast Hollywood actors in movie musicals, these are pretty good choices. Streep delivers the best belting I’ve ever heard from her, and Kidman is a hoot. There was a lot of talk going into this movie about the straight Corden playing the campy Barry, and I’m still figuring out how I feel about it. I know there are moments when his performance makes me a little uncomfortable, but for the most part, I think he’s fine. (Note: I’m also aware that others are far better equipped than I am to critique this performance, and I wholeheartedly respect the view of anyone who found it offensive.)

Jo Ellen Pellman is very sweet and rootable as Emma, and Ariana DeBose plays nicely off of her as her closeted girlfriend Alyssa. Keegan-Michael Key does a great job as Emma’s supportive principal and also has surprisingly-delightful chemistry with Streep’s Dee Dee. As the crusading head of the PTA, Kerry Washington does well with what she’s given, but her dialogue feels noticeably colorblind, and I think the movie would’ve benefited from exploring the intersectionality of this Black woman in a mostly-white community who’s using her position to discriminate against an LGBTQ teen.

One of the movie’s best features is its production numbers. This was my first time hearing the full score, which I found nice but a little bland, but Murphy takes full advantage of his years of experience on Glee to stage and shoot the hell out of basically every song. Way too many movie musicals, as I’ve said before, just can’t stick the landing on the songs; either the film doesn’t full embrace the fact that it’s actually a musical and the numbers all have a self-conscious air about them or what kills onstage falls flat onscreen and the magical is utterly lost. But Murphy knows how to stage songs in fun, cinematic ways. From the solos to the big group numbers, Murphy brings heart, energy, beauty, emotion, humor, and spark. The dancing is fantastic, and Murphy consistently uses the surrounding scene to good effect.

Also one of the movie’s best features? Andrew Rannells as Trent. A pretentious “that’s ‘theatre’ with an ‘R E,’ thank you very much” actor with Julliard training, Trent is all about His Craft, even if that training hasn’t translated to the kind of work he really wants – while he quotes (and then cites!) Shakespeare in casual conversation, he’s best known as a Hey, It’s That Guy! from a 15-year-old sitcom, and the Broadway gang gets their ride to Indiana via the non-union tour of Godspell that Trent just booked.

Within the ecosystem of this film, Rannells’s position is similar to the one he was in with The Boys in the Band, in that he’s the lowest rung of the totem pole of “big names” (Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, and Matt Bomer in The Boys in the Band, Meryl Streep, James Corden, and Nicole Kidman here) but simultaneously brings the most Broadway clout (musical clout in particular in this case.) And yes, of course I’m biased, but in both projects, Rannells holds his own pound for pound with his more famous castmates and brings it hard within his supporting role. Trent is constantly cracking me up – major points for the use of the word “soliloquize”! – and his biggest number, “Love Thy Neighbor,” is the highlight of the entire movie for me. And speaking of said big number, I’m decently impressed with Rannells’s dancing, both there and in other songs in the movie. I think Rannells, along with a lot of Broadway stars, would classify himself as an actor/singer who “moves well,” and naturally, the ensemble members dancing around him pull off the coolest moves, but he’s no slouch! It’s really fun to watch.

Between all this new Rannells content that’s been coming out the past few months, I’m reminded afresh of just how thoroughly Rannells commits to what he does. Larry in The Boys in the Band, Matthew in Big Mouth, and now Trent in The Prom are all decidedly-supporting roles, but he never misses a chance to leave an impression, to be funny, to go all out, and honestly just to shine. I go back to an observation he made once about how he played Elijah in Girls as though Elijah were the star of the show – I think he brings that energy to most roles he plays, and it serves him well.

Recommend?

In General – I think I would. It’s not a knockout, but if you’re a musical fan and go into it with reasonable expectations, I think you’ll have a good time.

Andrew Rannells – Yes. “Love Thy Neighbor” alone would be worth it, but Rannells is terrific whenever he’s onscreen.

Warnings

Language, drinking, a little suggestiveness, and thematic elements (including homophobia.)