Fame The Musical

For 30 years Fame has been delighting audiences with its exuberant and energetic soundtrack, story and choreography. Based on the 1980 film of the same name, Fame the Musical, charts the journey of several students as they navigate the highs and lows of life at New York’s High School For The Performing Arts. It seemed fitting then that my first visit to Woodkirk Academy was to see this musical that certainly ‘lit up the stage’.

Directed and Produced by Lauren Tosney and Oliver Seage, the staging demonstrated vision and ingenuity, I loved the portraits of cast members in lights at either side of the stage.

The cast was undeniably strong, and without exception they all performed to an incredibly high standard. There were some excellent pairings in this production and I must mention Will Ramskill as Nick Plaza and Amelia Bradshaw as Serena Katz who performed I Want To Make Magic and Let's Play A Love Scene with great emotion and feeling. Serena reminded me a lot of Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect and I look forward to seeing what she does next. James Kendall as classical musician Schlomo Metzenbaum and Sofia Fourket, as Carmen Diaz had a wonderful duet of Bring On Tomorrow. Sofia exuded confidence and had a wonderful stage presence as she led the company in an excellent rendition of There She Goes / Fame. Lucy Montieth showed us all her elegant ballet technique on several occasions as she delivered the role of Iris Kelly. Her relationship with the defensive Tyrone Jackson played by James Surtees was one of the highlights of the show. It is never easy to get boys and young men to take part in musical theatre but add into it doing ballet in lycra and most would run a mile. James is the epitome of a role model and should be commended for a standout performance.

It is impossible for me to mention all performers by name but from the moment the cast performed Hard Work as the opening number, it was clear that every single person was committed to their character and the performance and they maintained this throughout the evening. It was fantastic to see so many young performers enjoying themselves. Congratulations to them all.

I am a huge fan of a live band in a theatre and musical director Kathryn Clarke lead a wonderfully talented band made up mostly of students of the school who would not have sounded out of place in a lot of the productions I have seen in the area. I do not know the name of the kit player, but feel he deserves a mention as this musical is full on for the drums from the start and he didn’t miss a beat or drop tempo throughout. He is a real talent.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the efforts of so many more people off stage and all deserve a huge round of applause for helping to bring this triumph to the stage.

It’s safe to say that Fame the Musical will indeed live forever.

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