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[0:00] Adam Anders: Hi, I'm Adam Anders, producer and executive music producer of The Prom.

[0:22] Gordon Cox: Hi, I'm Gordon Cox. I am the contributing theater editor at Variety and the host of Variety's StageCraft podcast. In what ways did you work with the cast to sort of put their own twist on each song and, you know, make it a different thing and tailored for them as performers, while still sort of honoring the roots of the original song?

[0:42] Adam Anders: I think of Meryl, you know, specifically, she's such, I mean, wow. Working with her, kind of just she and I working in the studio together was just, you know, something I'll cherish, you know, because you see her brilliance, you know, firsthand. And she would, she came into the recording studio when we were recording "It's Not About Me," for example. And, you know, most of the times when we create a demo, you give it to the actor, the actor pretty much does the demo, right? She didn't do that. She came in with a completely different take on it. And it was amazing, right? And, and by the way, each take that we did was another brilliant version of it. So then it became, all right, what do we choose? You know, what is the right thing for the day when we shoot? Because it was prerecorded, right? Yeah, that's the process.

[1:40] Gordon Cox: Can you break that process down a little bit? Because they come into the studio beforehand to record. And then when they're on set, they're lip syncing to their own performance, right?

[1:48] Adam Anders: That's right. And, you know, some, some people spend a lot more time in rehearsals, figuring out all that stuff. And then they record like right before they go in. And Brian's process isn't like that. He wants to hear the songs recorded fairly early in the process so that he can envision everything else he wants to do. And he kind of wants the songs to motivate, you know, what other people are doing, I think creatively. So it was probably a little earlier in the process than Meryl's used to, like when she did "Into the Woods" or something like that. But so she kind of warned me, I mean, I'm probably going to change my performance. What do we do? And I was like, look, we're going to do whatever we need to do.

Trust me, it's fine. But Ryan doesn't like, you know, I think it's, you know, like the director of "Les Mis" who did it all live on set. He doesn't like to do that. That's not his thing. He's an old school musical director. He wanted to do it that way. And so it was really just making sure the actors knew that even if you stray from this when we film it, we will come back and clean it up and fix it and make it exactly. You can own every line in these performances. And I think that freed them up. It made them relax into it. So if they're thinking, oh, I could have done that differently, just do it differently, you know, and maybe it still looks exactly right. And, you know, because sometimes in your head, it seems totally off, but on camera, it's like dead on.

So it was just freeing them up to do your thing. Let's get a version on here that Ryan can hear and love and figure out all his stuff with. And if we have to come back to it, we will. Which, by the way, in TV, you never have time to come back to it. So again, you know, with the movie, we had the opportunity to say, let's do this. We'll film it. If it's wrong, we'll redo it.

[3:33] Gordon Cox: Do you, for some of the performers who maybe have less experience with, you know, lip syncing to themselves, you know, singing on screen, what, do you have advice for how to make it make people get comfortable, to get people comfortable with the idea of like singing along to themselves, not actually singing, but singing along to themselves and still coming off as if they are singing and if that song is like alive in their body?

[4:02] Adam Anders: Yeah, I think the key is to sing it, you know, don't, don't mime it, sing it. It's a very different look on a person's face when they're actually singing and people think they can fake it, but you can't, you need to sing it. I need to hear you belting it on set. Even if you feel like an idiot, sing, sing hard and loud, just like you're doing on the recording. And then you can see that the veins in your neck and you know, all the things that happen when somebody sings, if that's gone, it doesn't feel real. And it's, and it's hugely important that the lip sync is right. It's something that I was very, very particular about until the last, you know, playback and the film that every line was grounded because if the lip sync gets off a little bit, you kind of, it takes you out of the moment.

You know, I love actors and performers who come prepared and have actually perfected the lip sync. You know, I can't stand it when they don't know what they say on the recording and it just looks terrible. My advice would be those two things, learn it and then sing it again when you're on set.

[5:02] Gordon Cox: Can you give us some examples of some of the surprising and delightful elements that individual performers brought to their songs as they were doing them for the film?

[5:13] Adam Anders: Yeah. I mean, well, we talked about Meryl and how every take was different and just as good in different ways. And even her ability to belt, like the end of "Lazy" and "Proving," you know, it's pretty epic that she has those kind of pipes. And so that, I don't want to say surprising because nothing Meryl does surprises me. But it was like, wow, this is going to be phenomenal. So I remember having goosebumps when we were working on that. James honestly blew me away with his talent. I just can't say enough about how good he is at what he does. He is extremely gifted as a musician, a singer, and as an actor. And it was really, I didn't expect him to be that good, I guess. And I kept kind of saying things, where did you get so good at singing?

And he was like, what do you mean, where did I get so good? I'm like, I'm just, what'd you think I was going to suck? I'm like, I didn't mean it that way. I'm just like, you're really good. Keegan was probably the most green of all the performers, because he just started singing recently, he told me. And so that was a really fun one, because we really got to roll up our sleeves and create that performance together. And it might be one of my favorites of the whole movie, the way that turned out. It's so emotional and so grounded. And he sounds so natural, like he's almost just sitting down and talking to me while he's singing it. And I think it's very special. And Nicole, I just have to say, such a kind person.

And that's just the takeaway I had when I just keep thinking about how is this massive movie star so freaking nice and down to earth. So that definitely surprised me, I would say, because it's not always the case. Not that anybody else in this whole cast was lovely to work with, but that's kind of the standout for her. And Joelle, I didn't know what to expect, obviously, but she's a theater kid and was super talented. She was like, kind of, unfortunately, was a big fan of my Disney work, which horrified me a little bit. She was a big "High School Musical" fan.

[7:18] Gordon Cox: Why? What is it about that?

[7:23] Adam Anders: Well, you know, look, I'm, I guess I'm the type of, I'll probably be horrified by aspects of "The Prom" in 10 years, too. You know, I'm never quite happy. But it was, horrified is probably a strong word, just embarrassing. Maybe it's the best thing. Like, I think she should be more embarrassed than me now that I think about it. But she was definitely very sweet because she knew my other songs, my work, and was really just a sweetheart. And Ariana is a powerhouse. You know, she's just, well, you can see how she's just blowing up with all the stuff she has going on. And there's a reason, because she's stupidly talented and easy to work with. And then there's Carrie. Carrie's love of singing just blew me away. And her kind heart, too. And gosh, it was honestly one pinched me moment after another doing this movie. That's all I can say.