Fame

 

Fame the musical, an excellent choice for CODYS Productions enabling them to showcase every ounce of talent they have within their group. They did not disappoint in their interpretation of this iconic eighty’s musical. A production that would not be lost on a professional stage, I was so excited to write this review to relay what a fantastic production I saw.

 

Director, Nick Cupit has a wonderful flare for getting the best out of each player and this was certainly the case in the production. Engaging even the smallest of roles and creating a bigger presence in those characters, this not only make performing more interesting for the student, but it makes for excellent watching for an audience member. This will come as no surprise, but this script is incredibly weak, and you must work very hard to move it along. Nick succeeded in getting good pace into this otherwise slow script.

 

Simon Pickup as Musical director had a great sound from both the band and the stage, good balance achieved throughout. The ensemble work was evident, and I was left speechless on more than one occasion by the wall of sound coming off the stage. Great work once again.

 

Natasha Bill worked her socks off as choreographer for this production, I could see the work she had put into her cast, they did you proud. The routines were good enough in my estimation for any professional stage, the structure and formations were magical. Natasha you achieved in getting all the students dancing to a very good standard, that is a mammoth task. You utilised each ability perfectly. Excellent work.

 

Ellie Norton as Carmen, stunning performance from this young lady, a fine actress with a vocal that is simply breath -taking. Your rendition of “In L.A” was sheer perfection. Keep up the excellent work.

 

Edward Parry as Nick gave a great performance of a more difficult role. Edward always plays to the strengths of the character and keeps a great level of realism in his delivery, this make his performances so memorable. “I wanna make magic” was just beautiful and heart felt.

 

Faye McGrath gave Serena some real character and wit, a character that has a great journey in the plot, she really captured me and swept me along with her. There is no doubt that she has the most un -melodic songs to sings but she gave a great delivery of “Think of Meryl Streep” and “Let’s play a love scene”.

 

Clayton Roberts as Joe brought a very funny and entertaining character to the stage. A great young comedian who took on the not so easy number “Can’t keep it down”, this was excellent, he brought the house down. Well done Clayton it will take me quite a while to forget your performance.

 

Sophia Thomson as Mabel, with such a slight little figure, she did well to carry of the “worlds fattest dancer” role very well. Another good comedic actress with a stunning vocal. I loved “Mabel’s prayer” the choir like formation for this worked so well, and the vocals were simply divine.

 

Neve Buckley gave Iris some real fire that I have not seen before in an interpretation of this role, I liked it. The most elegant of dancers, I am certain she has a career planned in this industry. She was visually stunning to watch with exceptional stage presence.

 

Isaac Hartill as Schlomo, this role can be somewhat lost in the mix of all these vibrant characters, in this case, Isaac brought a great character to the stage. The delivery of his script is something special, I make an example of his monologue towards the end of the show, how he approached this piece, the phrasing of the lines, brought me to tears. A fantastic actor.

 

Oliver White as Tyrone, played a good role, a difficult one to portray, he did a good job to get across the anger of the character. Another great dancer he worked very well with Neve Buckley in the dance sections. “On the sidewalks” had super energy.

 

Ryan Coxon as Goody, displayed some nice comedy in his role. Good presence on stage and worked well within his scenes.

 

Gemma Clarke as Lambchops has great facial expression, she gave me one of the best laughs of the afternoon when she reluctantly played the triangle. Lovely actress.

 

Teachers within this production, Amy Lavelle, Richard Connelly, Hannah Young and Katie Johnston all played their respective roles very well. Good characterisation from each one, it was nice to be able to see the difference between each character during “Hard work”, this was a well-executed routine. Standout performances came from Hannah Young and Katie Johnston, the vocals were off the chart.

 

The ensemble worked so hard in this production and it paid off, what a strong group we saw on stage. Such confidence in movement, acting and singing. Personal highlights were “Pray I make PA/Hard work”, “Mabel’s Prayer” and “Bring on tomorrow”.

 

Staging of this show is difficult as there are so many small scenes to cater for, this set worked very well to keep pace in the performance with no scene change delays. Lighting was excellent, and I loved the pre-set stage on entering the auditorium along with the Fame Sign hanging at the front. It set the atmosphere for what was to follow. The iconic  “yellow taxi” made its entrance for the finale and was used to great effect by the cast and crew.

 

There are so many positive things I can say about this production, it was slick and professional throughout, you almost forget that you are an amateur group yet alone a youth group and these are all children/young teens. They delivered a top class show and the whole piece was just excellent. Congratulations on another cracking production.

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