Picture: Tristram Kenton
Fame The Musical was reviewed at the Spa Theatre, Bridlington. The tour continues until 7 September 2019 before transferring to London’s Peacock Theatre on 11 September 2019.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Approaching the box office, I was determined that I would not be influenced by memories of leg-warmers, sweatbands, sentimental plotting and the average production numbers that characterised the 1982-87 TV series.
As it turns out, they were all present on stage, but I wonder whether it isn’t precisely this predictability that makes the show so attractive to audiences. Certainly, they were on their feet and clapping along to the eponymous hit song at the end (albeit hesitantly, and with some encouragement from the cast), but I did not hear a single audience member setting off into the night humming one of the tunes.
Fame is one of those musicals where there is a credible context for the singing and dancing. The downbeat setting (Morgan Large) in the New York School for the Performing Arts, familiarly referred to as ‘PA’, is achieved using desks, ballet barres and lockers against a back-drop of headshots.
Themes are familiar, such as Tyrone’s (Jamal Crawford) literacy problems echoing a specific plotline in the original, along with drug addiction, over-bearing parents/indifferent parents and fear of failure.
One of the best-handled scenes is that between Katie Warsop’s Miss Bell and the cruelly underused Mica Paris as Miss Sherman, the school director. Their debate is a familiar one: not every pupil is destined to be a Meryl Streep, so how far, and in what manner, do you lower expectations while holding on to the dream? The dilemma must be more acute in performing arts institutions, but to a lesser degree it troubles consciences in any school
Mica Paris’ moment comes after her argument with Miss Bell when she sings ‘These Are My Children’. She certainly knows how to land a song and received a deserved storm of applause.
Elsewhere, Stephanie Rojas plays the troubled Carmen who, like many of the sopranos in the cast, is the victim of songs that climax by pushing the singer into an upper range where the voice becomes a screech. The arc of her decline into addiction, and the moral lesson that implies, is sweetened by her appearance as a ghost, embracing boyfriend Schlomo at the students’ passing out ceremony.
Some humour is injected by the girls in their locker room using tooth- and hairbrushes as microphones in a scene reminiscent of Grease, but the early section, where the new students assemble, is characterised by limp erection jokes.
Director/choreographer Nick Winston integrates the dance and singing routines efficiently and has the benefit of Morgan Jackson in the chorus whose contributions are athletic and precise.
The band, under musical director Dustin Conrad, gets the job done and the on-stage swing team plays with enthusiasm. Particularly noticeable is Louisa Beadel playing Lambchops, but, more significantly, stirring up a storm on the drums.
Fame provides an energetic evening of entertainment. However, the reliance on a single, show-stopping number, leaves a distinct feeling of imbalance.
Mike Tilling
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