I caught the final dress rehearsal of “The Prom” at Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre, which is now up and running through Oct. 21. There were no technical glitches or other lapses to impact the performance. Some thoughts.

— I’m not going to bury the lead in on this one. As Emma, the humble, attention-resistant teen at the center of the play, Kelsey McDaniel gives one of the finest, most emotionally truthful musical theater performances I’ve seen on a local stage in a long time. And she sings beatifully.

— Emma is the eye of the storm in “The Prom,” which centers on the fallout from her Indiana high school’s resistance to her having a female date for the title event. The decision comes to the attention of some clueless, attention-starved Broadway folks in desperate need of some good PR and they trek to the Midwest to get some Q-rating mileage out of her dilemma.

— I fell hard for the show when I saw the original Broadway production. A rarity in theater these days, it was an original Broadway musical not based on an existing property, not featuring a jukebox score, and not headlined by a big box office name. Writing about it at the time, I called it “tuneful, hilarious, touching, empowering and generally delightful” while noting that, while other shows have been set or mentioned Indiana, “to my knowledge, The Prom is the first Broadway musical to administer such direct-hit lines as “Note to self: Don’t be gay in Indiana” and where a homophobic parent announces to outsiders, “This is not America. This is Indiana.” I wondered then if any theaters in the state would have the spine to stage it.

— I’m glad Civic did. This show deserves the resources of a full cast, a solid set, and an orchestra that kicks.

— The toughest parts here are those of the alleged grown-ups. In a regional production, nobody should expect the magic that Broadway vets Brooks Ashmanskas and Beth Leavel brought to the primary narcissistic duo. They need to be obnoxious and self-centered at the start — but in a fun, watchable way — and then reveal varying degrees of heart as the saga progresses. This is where the movie version dropped the ball, putting too much emphasis on the adults, including adding a heavy-handed backstory. As with the film’s James Corden and Meryl Streep, on stage at Civic, the parts are played gamely but often came across to me as acting funny instead of being funny. I’m hoping a better balance has been found later in the run.

— In hindsight, I think I was too generous when I wrote about the flick. I’m still hoping for more film musicals, unlike this one, that stand up to repeat viewing. A shame, since the material here is so good.

— At Civic, though, McDaniel’s performance is the show’s beating heart. And it lives up to those of her worthy Broadway and film predecessors. Thankfully, it’s comfortably matched by that of Kaylee Johnson-Bradley, as her would-be prom date. Johnson-Bradley’s eleven-o-clock number, “Alyssa Green,” soared, yes, but, more importantly, it was emotionally anchored, showing off her voice without being about showing off and offered just one of many moving, tear-inducing moments in the show.

— The director’s note in the program seemed to indicate a concern that some in Civic’s audience may be offended by the content of the show. That’s a sad statement that I hope isn’t true (but I suspect may be).

— Side note: I had little interest when I heard that there’s a new musical about Betty Boop having a try-out in Chicago. Seriously? Betty Boop? Then I found out that the book for the show is written by Bob Martin, who did the same for “The Prom,” “The Drowsy Chaperone” (for me, the finest production I’ve seen at Civic) and the great Canadian TV series “Slings & Arrows.” Guess what? Especially after revisting “The Prom,” I now really, really want to see “Boop!: The Boop-oop-a-Dosical.”