'The Prom' Is Breezy, Peppy and Tells Us a Gloomy Story Doesn't Have to Be Dreary Itself The Netflix film is impressive when it tackles and resolves individual stories. But it occasionally falters at processing the big picture. A still from 'Prom'. The American musical The Prom, streaming on Netflix, dances around a simple question: Will Edgewater High School, in Indiana, hold the annual prom? The head of the Parent-Teacher Association, Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington), has cancelled it, because Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman), a high school senior, wanted to attend it with her girlfriend, a Black girl named Alyssa (Ariana DeBose), the daughter of the PTA head. Edgewater is a small conservative town, and same-sex dates flout communal values.