Fame The Musical

Fame The Musical
Conceived and Developed by David De Silva. Book by Jose Fernandez. Lyrics by Jacques Levy. Music by Steve Margoshes. Title Song ‘Fame’ by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore. Chatswood Musical Society. Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College. October 2-5, 2013.

Vibrant youthful energy and smart production values meet in Chatswood Musical Society’s enjoyable production of Fame The Musical.

Inspired by the movie, Fame tells the story of a group of students at New York’s High School of the Performing Arts.

Covering the group’s entire high school career in two and a half hours (including interval), dominated by musical numbers, means that the script is sparse and a bit clunky, and character development very restricted, but really the show is mostly about the big dance routines, with choreographer Laura-Beth Wood and a terrific young ensemble doing a great job in energising them.

Director / Lighting Designer James Wallis has created a tight, well-paced production, enabled by Neil Shotter’s functional scaffolding design, complemented by simple props moved on and off in partial view with well-drilled precision, and dance mirrors flown in and out as needed. Well-used levels in the set further enhance the fluidity. Attractive costuming is left to supply the colour.

Cast entirely with performers above the age of 18, the big challenge is creating a journey, given the sketchy script, and it’s there that two performers stand out for me; Susana Downs as the tragic Carmen Diaz and Serena Katz as sincere, exuberant Lauren Paul. Downs has a great voice, also imbuing Carmen with fire, sensuality and attitude in a charismatic performance, before returning with a powerful world-weariness in the late show ballad ‘In LA’. Paul begins the show as a convincingly young, flighty teenager, but blew me away later in the first act with the ballad ‘Let’s Play a Love Scene’, finding subtle nuances on the path from endearing hormonal teen to young woman as the show progressed in a sketchy script. Also making much of ‘Think of Meryl Streep’, early in the second act, Paul’s was the finest young voice of the evening for mine.

Stephanie Edmonds has the perfect ballerina look for the role of Iris and plays a very credible outsider; Mike Curtin’s Joe Vegas is a charming, cheeky reprobate; Isaac Bradley’s Tyrone has the right degree of attitude, though his dancing doesn’t quite establish his credentials as a highly promising dancer / choreographer; Tom Stevens’ Nick is earnest and credible, though his pitch seems off at times and Levi Gardner is suitably intense as the musical prodigy, developing a nice chemistry of opposites with Carmen. Other younger roles are pretty thankless, but full credit to Meg Biggs, who gets little more than the attitude of a female drummer to work with but nails it delightfully.

Highlight of the teacher roles is ‘The Teachers’ Argument’ near the end of Act 1, with Chapin Ayres and Jocelyn O’Brien in fine vocal form working off each other in a duel for Broadway Belt voices. Ayres effectively delivers on the far more sympathetic role of the dance teacher, while the script tends to leave the English teacher’s big song until far too late for O’Brien to establish light and shade in an generally authoritarian role. Osmann Kabarra makes the most of his acting teacher cameo, while Rick Barta revels in his stereotypical music teacher; roles which only exist to drive the kids’ narratives anyway.

Big musical and dance numbers really do drive this musical, aided by direction which recognizes the need to push the show and its thinner aspects along at a brisk pace.

Beyond the principals, there's some absoutely terrific dance talent in the ensemble.

The enthusiasm of the young cast is palpable throughout, with dance routines bright, energetic, well-drilled and within the abilities of almost all of the large cast.

There’s great musical support from the orchestra under Peter Meredith, while the sound mix is particularly clean and impressive.

Though Fame only played a short off-Broadway season in the city where the action takes place, it’s since had a healthy international and regional life.

Fame happily meets the needs of young companies like the current crew at Chatswood for an enjoyable performing experience, while providing escapist feel-good entertainment for their audience.

Neil Litchfield

Photographer: Grant Leslie, Perfect Images

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