Fame The Musical

Fame The Musical

Exmouth Musical Theatre Company (EMCO)

Book by Jose Fernandez, Lyrics by Jaques Levy and Music by Steve Margoshes

Conceived and developed by David De Silva

Performed on Friday 7th June at Exmouth Pavilion

Directed and choreographed by Robert Guy

Musical Director Joseph Binmore

 

Fame is iconic to those of us who remember the hugely popular television series in the early 80’s which itself was based on the 1980 film of the same name and even the word itself makes you want to sing out “Fame, I’m gonna live forever”! Having never seen the stage show, I was excited to witness this performance. I was not disappointed, not at all!

I was greeted with an open stage filled with blues and pink lighting perfectly placed to enhance the staging which consisted of two sets of steps, stage left and right, leading to an upper walkway which was used to great effect throughout the production but also housed the terrific orchestra. Placed at rear centre stage were clean, crisp, white lockers and rails and benches for the students to use at the sides. An ingenious design which allowed a huge space for the director to use to great effect and which took us back to the 1980’s classic dance theatre.

Performed by a company of twenty actors, the lights go down and the sounds of New York streets is piped in. The actors enter, the lights come up gradually and through “Pray I Make P.A” and into “Hard Work” we meet the students of the dance department, the drama department and the music department of New York’s Academy of Performing Arts and their teachers. With incredible choreography and outstanding characterisation from every cast member I knew this was going to be very special.

Miss Esther Sherman, the principal, beautifully dressed in suits and a gorgeous pant suit is believable as the authoritative yet protective English teacher whose rendition of “These Are My Children” was delivered with pure emotion and sang beautifully. Her tussle with Ms Bell, the dance teacher over Jack Zakowski, resulting in “Teacher’s Argument” is so convincing, well sung and really enjoyable to watch. The actor portraying Ms Bell has superb stage presence, natural acting ability and showed real compassion in her characterisation. Along with Mrs Myers of the drama department whose comedic timing was perfect when dealing specifically with student Joe Vegas (more of him, later). The starchy Ms Sheinkopf, head of the music department, was perfectly inflexible and rigid as she should be, reminiscent of many music teachers and perfectly portrayed. I especially loved seeing these four characters, dressed in racy red in the final scene letting their hair down and looking fab-u-lous!

And we move on to the students, of which, there was not one weak link. Well cast and all truly talented.  I begin with Nick Piazza. Portrayed gently and showing the character’s internal struggles to become a ‘real’ and ‘serious’ actor, I was impressed by this performance. With a lovely tenor voice, he sang ‘I Want To make Magic’, followed around the stage by cleverly designed lighting and in the second act his duet with Serena ‘Let’s Play a Love Scene’ showed his natural instinct to perform musical theatre.  Serena was gorgeous, just lovely to watch, excitable and a little ditzy, this actor sure can sing and dance and her performance of ‘Think of Meryl Streep’ was cracking. 

Joe (Jose) Vegas, played by an actor who grows in confidence every time I see him perform, is hilarious, lustful and gives us an ‘Hispanic’ acting student who does not handle his sexual feelings well. With some of the best lines such as ‘the only thing I’m allowed to shake is my own spear’ pointing to his groin. With an hilarious rendition of ‘Can’t Keep it Down’, a wonderfully explicit song about Joe’s struggles to contain his amorous desires, this actor had the audience laughing out loud and his teacher despairing of him.  The object of his desire is Carmen Diaz, who believes she is destined for stardom but has an unfortunate drug habit. This is where you cast your triple threat, and this actor is that and more. Singing ‘There She Goes’ and the title song ‘Fame’ with some power, a lovely dancer and a really credible portrayal of how broken she is with a tearful and poignant rendition of ‘In L.A’. This was a performance worthy of a professional stage. Her timidness with Schlomo, her attitude with Joe and her genuine plausibility was so watchable. Returning to the stage after a long break was the actor portraying Schlomo, who is also a pianist, so perfect casting. Lovely to see him genuinely playing on stage and his duet with Carmen of ‘Bring on Tomorrow’ was heartfelt.   

Jack Zakowski loves to dance but his grades aren’t good until he is helped by a love-interest, Iris Kelly. These two actors worked well together, dancing their socks off. The actor playing Jack, who we discover is unable to read, shows his vulnerability along with the beautiful Iris, a stunning ballerina, whose ability to dance was obvious. Just delightful to watch. As was, the funny Mabel Washington who just loves food, depicted with zealousness by an actor who could dance her socks off, sing like a Diva and make us laugh, hard.

The music department includes Grace ‘Lambchops’ Lamb with her drums who is a confidant performer and a solid dancer, along with Goodman ’Goody’ King whose enthusiasm on stage was obvious and gave his all during the dance numbers.

The students... I hate to call them an ensemble or just ‘the students’ and I wish they had character names because I watched each and every one of them, closely, and they were not just supporting the leads but were leads themselves. I will, therefore, break some rules and use their real names. EL packs a punch on stage and is certainly an actor to watch, again a triple threat and whose energy and zeal knows no bounds. KM is a stunning dancer and actor, acting all of the time during numbers and scenes. NP, again a super talented dancer and natural actor whose smile is infectious. MPs glows on stage and her joy of being a part of the cast was easy to see.  VA is a drama student and is cleverly funny even when he does not have a line, along with Toby Hill who impressed me too.

Once again, Robert Guy’s choreography is creative and performed skilfully by the cast. Exceptional attention to details is taken to produce symbiotic dance numbers that include everyone, each with differing dance abilities. The MD, Joseph Binmore, worked this cast hard to achieve the beautiful harmonies in ‘Bring on Tomorrow’ and the Finale. 

Each actor looked great in their dance outfits, legwarmers, jean shorts, leotards, leggings along with ballet shoes, jazz shoes and trainers. Iris in her ballet leotard and skirt and pink dress as Juliet with Jack in the most ‘outstanding’ cod-piece and white tights, a touch of genius, wardrobe! The teachers differing red numbers at the end of Act 2 and the black and gold gowns and caps of the graduating   class were perfect for the 1980’s.

The square lighting rig above the audience and the lighting on above the stage was cleverly designed to follow and spot the actors as they used the high walkways and staircases. Great use was made of this allowing the actors to move freely around the stage.  The sound crew had a challenge with balance as the orchestra were placed at the back and almost in the roof of the stage and all of the actor’s mic-ed but I could hear the dialogue, underscored dialogue and songs.

There is no higher praise than an audience leaving the theatre having been entertained and I heard remarks such as ‘that was wonderful’, ‘how do they do it’, ‘there is nothing amateur about this show’ as I was exiting the auditorium.  The cast never really get to hear this and I so wish they could see and hear what their hard work, over many months, gives to their public.  This audience also left with a tear in their eye due to the Finale ending. As the graduates stood and sang, two overhead screens showed us the faces of many past vice presidents, presidents, vice chairs and chairs of EMCo who are no longer with us. If not for them, EMCo would not exist and still be producing quality musical productions as they have with Fame.  We thank them.

Congratulations to cast, backstage crew, lighting, front of house team, brochure designer, Chairman and President and thank you for always welcoming me with such warmth.

Lyn Burgoyne (Noda representative for District 5, Mid and East Devon)

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