| FAME : THE MUSICAL... |
| date: 18th june 2002 venue: the alhambra theatre, bradford |
| The famous book-based film depicting the life of students at the New York School of Performing Arts comes to stage in musical form. Of course there are differences between screen and stage to create an inspirational breath if fresh air such as character names (although the characters are the same)... and being a musical, there's more of a... errr... musical element. Like the film there are still many morals to be detected within the fabulous main students Tyrone, Iris, Nick, Serena, Mabel, Schlomo, Joe and Carmen- played by Chris Copeland, Cathie Carday, Paul Spicer, Julie Atherton, Leigh-Anne Stone, David Randall, Ben Heathcote and Debbie Kurup respectively. All conduct applaudable performances for the laughs, the dramas, the moves and the tears, not forgetting the amusing disagreement between the teachers Miss Sherman (Melanie La Barrie) and Miss Bell (Louise Davidson). Along with the hilarious 'denial' between 'Nick and Serena', and 'Carmen''s entire strung-out performance, 'Mabel"s food-fuelled song is brilliant and Copeland's wonderful portrayal of rough-edged 'Tyrone' persuades the audience to symapthise and side with him as he battles through 3 years to prove he can hack it academically. The stage adaptation of 'Fame' is quite a sight and is successfully told through music and movement as well as witty dialogue to match the energy and character ambitions in the film. However, there was only one disappointment to spoil the performance which was 'Carmen''s rendition of the famous theme song. The vocals were too fast for the weak band backing and lacked any attitude. Such a shame this song closed the show, but nevertheless earned 'Fame: The Musical' a massive 15 minute round of applause. |