Fame

Company: John Frost
Venue: Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane
Dates: To 1 August 2010

A cocktail of pumping sound, pulsating rhythms and dancing to die for had the audience screaming for more at the Brisbane opening night performance of Fame – the Musical. It is so easy to see why this mix of exuberance, drama, comedy, and touches of maudlin sentimentality has remained a popular hit over the years, even if the Motown soul music now seems a bit dated.

It’s all about the dancing.

Those energy-laced dance routines will never date; neither will the pleasure of seeing extremely attractive, fit young dancers flying high across the stage just brimming with confidence and talent. Add to that, the fact that they also play young people who aspire to theatrical greatness in all its forms with the highs and lows, loves and heartbreak, triumphs and tragedies and the formula is bullet-proof.

It tells the story of a diverse group of students at New York City's High School of the Performing Arts, a real-life school that opened in 1946 and became the first public schools to draw students to a centre for professional training in the Arts. David De Silva’s story has had huge success, The movie, released in 1980, won an Academy Award; The TV show ran for six seasons, won numerous Emmy Awards and was broadcast in more than 70 countries and the play ran for a ten years in London’s West End and new productions are announced around the world every year.

John Frost’s new production sticks successfully to the formula. True the acting wasn’t brilliant, but the talking was simply to fill gaps to give the dancers time to regain their breath. Tahlia Fowler was just too prim as ballerina Iris Kelly but she can dance, as her résumé proves, winning the 2009 So You Think You Can Dance TV show after becoming the youngest dancer ever to join the Queensland Ballet. Timomatic was much too stereotyped as ghetto boy with a chip on his shoulder Tyrone Jackson, but boy can he move!

Rowena Villar was good as the ill-fated Latin Carmen Diaz and Tim Dashwood, better known as an actor surprised with his voice and moves as Schlomo Metzenbaum. I also throughout enjoyed all aspects of Catherine Shepherd’s performance as Serena Katz. She has great stage presence. Kylie Fisher was funny and drum-crazy Grace Lamb and earned her applause with a rousing drum solo; Jonathan Whitlow as Goodman “Goody” King plays a mean saxophone. Sam Ludeman as Joe Vegas was another over-the-top performer and he became a little annoying at time. Chris Durling was one of the more restrained performers as Nick Piazza and so was a standout. Jaz Flowers as fast food fanatic Mabel Washington brought the house down with her solo about her diet problems.

The other big moment far as the audience was concerned was the duet between the didactic Miss Sherman (Darlene Love) and the passionate young teacher Ms Bell (Rebecca Jackson Mendoza). It was a bit much for me though, too eardrum aching and not enough harmony. Of course the title song – Fame – was a spot on ensemble piece.

Popular TV stars Andrew McFarlane as Mr Myers and Brian Wenzel as Mr Sheinkopf made up the faculty of the school. Altogether, including the schoolteachers there was a cast of 30, with 26 of them young dancers either as principals or ensemble and each was so good that there was hardly anything to choose between them. I’m sure chorus could have upped to principal at a moment’s notice.

Set, lights, costumes, and sound were excellent. Apart from that one ear-splitting duet, I can’t think of any reason why anyone wouldn’t love the show.

Eric Scott

To read more of Eric Scott's theatre reviews, check out Absolute Theatre.