Amusing, Earnest, Sweet

'Tis the season to go a-promming. Yet when young Phillip Baggett's fancy turns to a woman to ask to the prom, he finds himself tongue-tied.

Well, not exactly. He tries popping the question, "Kirsten, will you do me the honor of going to Prom with me?" She demurs, and he offers that the formality of his invitation sounds as though it came from 1943.

In spring 2007, when it comes to finding a date for the prom, Phil is beset with the same shyness his granddad faced in the 1940s. This the-more-it-changes-the-more-it's-the-same befuddlement may have to do with the current generation, in which formal dating has given way to "hooking up." If so, then another young woman's solution to Phil's problem, "Hey, you're coming to Prom with me, that's it, no questions asked about it," would be cool. Phil rejects this hang-out/hit-on/hook-up macho bee ess, though; he longs for more.

He also rejects another female interviewee's suggestion that he print up a card with a "yes" and a "no" box to be checked off by the woman being asked out.

Meanwhile, a background sound track, with quarter notes banging away on a piano in repeated chords with a rinky-dink melody line, stresses the pulse beat of anxiety Phil is feeling. It's not as though he fancies himself a Prom King looking for an ideal Queen. He just wants someone to go out with.

I won't divulge the surprise ending of this amusing interstitial. Instead, let me say that Curie Youth Radio has once again given us a gem. This particular diamond of a production gains its brilliance from being old-fashioned, like the institution of marriage. As a reaction to our hook-up culture, "Will You Go To Prom With Me" is, in the best sense of the term, a revolutionary setback. The fact that its characters are totally hip, street-smart denizens of southwest Chi Town makes it all the more fresh and irresistible.

James Reiss
Wilmette, IL
May 23, 2007

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