Ryan Murphy’s Netflix Musical Prom to Star Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, James Corden, More

Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of the Tony-nominated musical The Prom is launching into a new kind of star power territory.

Meryl Streep will star along with James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Ariana Grande, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells. Whew.

It hasn’t even been a year since Murphy, best-known for his work on American Horror Story, Glee and Scream Queens, landed a five-year deal with Netflix, and he’s already set to direct and produce possibly the most star-studded musical feature cast of the year.

And luckily for Murphy, each actor was his first choice, all of them signing on after seeing the themes of inclusion and tolerance woven throughout the musical.

Production is expected to get rolling in December with the film releasing on Netflix just in time for fall 2020 awards season, according to Deadline.

Streep, who really needs no introduction, will play Dee Dee Allen, a two-time Tony winner who teams up with Barry Glickman, played by lovable (at least on camera) British late-night host and Carpool Karaoke star James Corden, in a laughably awful musical about Eleanor Roosevelt. As scathing reviews make both their careers sink, they, along with Broadway newbies Angie Dickinson (Kidman) and Trent Oliver (Rannells), search for a new story to put onstage to rebuild their careers after the flop.

They find hope—and a story—in Emma, a high school senior from Indiana who’s been barred from taking her girlfriend to prom, and the group launches into a nationwide search to fill the role of Emma.

Grande stars as popular girl Alyssa, while Awkwafina plays the group’s publicist. We’ll see a bit of romance unfurl onscreen with Key playing Principal Hawkins, Emma’s ally and Streep’s love interest.

Murphy will produce alongside Alexis Woodall, Bill Damaschke and Dori Berinstein, with a script by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. Music and lyrics will be by Beguelin and Matthew Sklar.

And of course, you’ll get to hear Grande on the soundtrack, which Murphy, Grande and her manager, Scooter Braun, will produce.

Murphy will add the musical-within-a-musical The Prom to the set of three series he’s serving up on Netflix: The Politicians, Ratched and Hollywood. He also has two not-yet-announced documentaries and The Boys in the Band, yet another movie stage adaptation in the works. Directed by Joe Mantello with the Broadsword 50th anniversary revival cast, the Tony-winning The Boys in the Band will get cameras rolling in July.

It sounds like it’ll be a busy five years at Netflix for Murphy. But we all know he’s used to being busy. In the past year, he’s bagged a Golden Globe for The Assassination of Gianni Versace, a Peabody for Pose and a Tony for The Boys in the Band.