‘Fame’ was an all dancing, all colourful, fun musical that left me in amazement due to the slick routines and powerful voices. Despite being drenched due to a downpour of rain I was able to get involved in this musical and thoroughly enjoy it, even though my spirits were dampened….this musical cheered us all up!

The plot is about a stage school, set in the New York in the 80’s, the majority of the characters are teenagers, and we follow them through the school till graduation. With in this main plot there are many other story lines to follow, such as an illiterate boy from the ghetto, who hides the fact and nearly gets thrown out of school. A girl that wants to be famous and who can’t wait for it to happen. Also a romance between two of the students where you wait for them to get together, of course they don’t till the end, so it’s not at all clichéd!  

The cast was extremely energetic; this was due to the fact that they were all, except 4, students in the school and of course this meant they were young and bursting with enthusiasms to showcase their strong talents. I felt the characterisation was really good, from the beginning you could see all the different characters that were going to the school, and each cast member maintaining that character until the end. Like any musical this was full of the over exaggerated movements and strong characters, but it didn’t irritate as in some cases it does, but added humor to the roles. With a musical like this it is important that you have fun watching it, and with this cast you certainly will, they were having fun the whole time and this is really help when you feel the cast are having fun too. The American accents also added to the light hearted feel to the show, having all the different stereotypical Americans on stage just gave us something else to chuckle about.

The music was funky and modern and there were many modern routines you usually see Britney Spears backing dancers doing on ‘Top Of The Pops. All voices were extremely powerful and all songs were carried extremely well. There was a slight disappointment with the first injection of the theme song, for some reason it was a bit flat, but they certainly made up for it by the end.

The acting was suburb, but a special mention should go to Julie Atherton who played Serena Katz, she was playing a ditsy blonde American, but she did it so well, she was an amazing actress and singer, and really got me giggling, the sort of person interesting to watch throughout. The Carmen story line also needs a mention; the actress Debbie Kurup with one of her songs had me close to tears, despite its slightly upbeat feel. The story line was handled well by all characters, and certainly gave me the chilling spine. Chris Copeland playing Tyrone was a real character, although he could get slightly annoying (Tyrone not Chris) he really made me feel that he was from the street life in America not a trained ballet dancer.

The set was dull at first site, but did reflect city life, the costumes were bright and fun, giving a real teeny feel and each character had their own style. It was the lighting and movement that brought the stage to life and it really was alive with colour and feeling. That lighting really made you feel like you were at a Rock Concert, not a musical!

The production did though have the concern to young children as there was a number of crude jokes that I am not sure I would want my mum to hear, quite strong sexual references, this did add the teenage style, but just take of that if you are a bit prudish.

This show was fun and full of life and excitement I did feel transported into the musical world. I had a great time, and you will too. I certainly was singing fame on the way home.

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Overall

4 1/2  out of 5

Performance Time:
Evenings: 7.30pm
Wed & Sat: 2.30pm

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