Prom: The Musical
Wilbur Cross High School
Lights Up Drama Club
Thursday, Mar. 5, 2026 at 7pm
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 7pm
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 2pm
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 7pm
A mysteriously damp book of drum warm-ups changed hands Thursday, one hour before curtains rose on opening night of Prom: The Musical at Wilbur Cross High School.
Was it the rain outside that wetted the pages? Had a rogue drumstick knocked a drink onto the tome?
Cross sophomore Flynn Rossman, the book’s new caretaker for the time being, shrugged.
“Still works,” he said, flipping through the pages.
He’s on-stage crew for the show, which runs through this weekend. It’s a rolicking comedy about celebrity hacktivists struggling to stay relevant and a young lesbian who just wants to take her date to the prom. When her Indiana high school cancels the big dance to prevent her from bringing the unthinkable — a girl — the overeager celebrities show up to save the day. At least for the cameras.
Rossman was borrowing the warm-up book from Alistair Hampton-Dowson, the drummer from Prom‘s pit orchestra. The two are both in tenth grade, but at different schools.
“We met ’cause I was intrigued, ’cause he was really good,” Rossman said. Hampton-Dowson goes to The Morgan School in Clinton. Prom is his first time playing pit for a musical.
Rossman, who said Prom is the biggest production he’s ever done, was tasked with “taking things on and off.” He showed me two large set pieces, walls that rotated to hide or reveal scenery.
“I have the pleaure of, uh, turning them around,” he said.
Turn them around he did. Seated in the front row, I watched the set transform from gala to high school to bedroom and back again.
“Note to self — don’t be gay in Indiana,” Ava Palmer, as lesbian high schooler Emma Nolan, sang by the lockers. She was the heart of the show, staying down to earth as the world swirled around her.
Onstage PTA parents booed the concept of a “homosexual prom” (one that would include her). The Broadway has-beens declared their mission to “change the world, one lesbian at a time!”
“I don’t want to blaze a trail,” Palmer sang to Journey Rosa, playing closeted girlfriend Alyssa Greene. “I just want to dance with you.”
Peering from the side was Emeka Forman, a junior at Cross. This was, he said, his “first time doing theater stuff.” A member of the stage crew, his job was to move the bedroom and lockers. He waited in the wings for his moment.
While Forman has been to musicals before, he’s “never seen a show from that angle.” It gives him a new perspective, he said.
Onstage, Iris Baden-Eversman, as fictional Tony Award-winning Dee-Dee Allen, belted out crisp Broadway notes. She and Daniel Cardenas, playing fellow celeb Barry Glickman, committed fully to the self-obsessed, mega-talented roles, delivering impressive skills that heightened their characters’ comedic cluelessness.
“I read three-quarters of a news story and knew I had to come,” said Eversman as Dee-Dee.
Rossman’s new warm-up book from the pit drummer comes with hopes of leveling up a long-stagnant skill. That’s great news for the band he’s in. I asked the band’s name, and Rossman ran to consult bandmate and cast member Oscar Grossman.
“The Measles,” Rossman said after confirming the name was OK for release.
“It’s like the Beatles,” he said, with a twist. “It’s catchy, but it’s also, like, gross.”
Grossman, singer and bassist for The Measles, said the band does rock, post-hardcore, and punk — “but not post-punk yet.”
In the meantime, Grossman sings upbeat Broadway-style tunes as Indiana high-schooler Kevin, his debut role with Wilbur Cross’ Lights Up Drama Club.
Kevin, along with the other high schoolers on stage, opens his worldview as the musical unfolds — not quite due to the celebrities’ efforts, but because of Emma’s integrity. The show flips tropes (like a Cinderella moment making Emma more femme) by having the celebities champion them. Chaos ensues as the plans fall apart, making way for something more honest.
The students on cast and crew brought serious chops to the project. Theater teacher Salvatore DeLucia said he likes to teach the students all aspects of the production, from stage managing to social media to poster design.
All of the skills the kids learn, DeLucia said, transfer over to other parts of life. How to present yourself, talk to others, give constructive criticism, and receive it. He says he’s the luckiest teacher at the school.
“It worked for the Ancient Greeks,” he said of his craft. “Theater is a beautiful communicator.”
Before the magic was set to begin, I caught up with stage manager Natalie Moreno and her assistant Luna Flores. Moreno is a senior, and Flores is a junior. The two have been a team for the past three years. Moreno said her favorite part is “when you transition scenes, and it looks seamless.” Crew members give each other a quick “Hi!” and run away together.
Flores said assisting is “a big responsibility. But it pays off when you get to see it all come together.”
