Saturday, September 26, 2020

FAME (The Shows Must Go On/Peacock Theatre/Sadler’s Wells*****


By Imogen

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYEEZ04lbDg

Available until: 7.30pm Sunday 27 September

I think Fame is really underrated as a musical. All most people know is that it’s about stage school and that it has a good title song but there’s so much more to it than that. Fame isn’t the only good song and the variation in musical styles is really impressive and not something you see in most musicals. This doesn’t just have the pop and rock styles you’d expect to find in a musical. There’s a bit of classical, a bit of Latin, a bit of street and lots of really good tunes.

I have also heard it said that the script is poor. It’s not. It’s only two hours long and they pack so much into it. There are lots of different characters, all with their own stories and it covers four years of stage school. How many other musicals have that many storylines and manage to keep them going all the way through? I call that very clever scriptwriting. I also don’t think you can get too snobby about a show that has ballet and Shakespeare in it.

There are some things in the script that some people won’t like. The boy who can’t read is the black boy Tyrone and Serena’s horror when she thinks Nick is gay might bother some people too. But this production of Fame was really clever and made the teacher who goes on at Tyrone black too. So it’s hard to see the way she challenges him as racism and obviously the show isn’t saying all black people are stupid if one of the teachers is black. As for the gay incident I think it’s totally natural to be horrified if you think the guy you fancy is gay. It’s not homophobia, it’s just the realisation that a relationship between you isn’t going to happen. Ever. I think you’re entitled to be a little bit upset.

The cast is really good. I especially liked Keith Jack and Molly McGuire as Nick and Serena. They are just like real teenagers. Molly has the best voice in the show in my opinion and Keith is just so versatile. Acting, singing, dancing, American accents, Shakespeare, he can do everything. I liked Albey Brookes as Joe too. He was really hot. I’ve seen him in Grease and Aladdin and he was in the ensembles but he can totally play a main role.

Jamal Crawford is a really likeable Tyrone and he definitely doesn’t come across as stupid. Jorgie Porter looks very pretty as Iris and she managed to be quite sweet even though the character is really annoying. She’s a very good dancer too. Hayley Johnston is really funny as Mabel. I was a bit unsure about Stephanie Rojas as Carmen, I thought she should be a bit more sensual but her interpretation still works and she has a great voice and she’s good at the drama. The four musician students are also really talented.

The teachers didn’t make quite so much impression on me because teachers never do but Mica Paris who plays Miss Sherman is a very good singer and she’s still pretty.

This will only be available for 48 hours and sometimes when they say that it’s a lie so watch it as soon as you can.  

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