Fame the Musical – Review
★★★☆☆ Learning to fly
Edinburgh Playhouse Tue 22 – Sat 26 April 2014
Review by Thom Dibdin
Souped-up, remixed and updated, Fame returns to town in a new production that is – as it boasts – “like you’ve never seen it before”.
There is plenty of reason to update David De Silva’s quarter-of-a-century old musical for 2014.
It could do with some spruce new moves for start, while a contemporary kick in the bassline wouldn’t go amiss and it certainly needs at least a nod to the post-X Factor generation.
And to give director and choreographer Gary Lloyd credit where it is due, he has managed to do the first two of the three while keeping all the original songs in place – if updated – and the plot lines intact.
As the show opens, the latest intake to PA – the New York High School for the Performing Arts – are found chatting on their mobiles and taking selfies on their tablets as they arrive for the first day.
A superficial update it might be, but combined with contemporary staging and design by Diego Pitarch, the show’s 21st century feel is immediately apparent and carries through as the show follows the trials of the group as they pass through the school to graduation.
Although it must be said that there are several points where those doing updating could have been a lot more adventurous than a few gizmos here and a reference to a post 1980s star or music genre there. No doubt they were somewhat bound by the copyright issues.
Then there is an early line from Head Teacher Miss Sherman about the 4,000 applicants for PA – of whom only 97 were accepted. It’s a line which chimes with the recent debate about whether drama schools are training too many students – started by The Stage education correspondent Susan Elkin.
seat-wobblingly, deeply, deadly awesome
Musically, the success of the updates is a lot more mixed. If it is adding some kick-ass bass that you are after, then Andy Balls and Gary Hickenson’s arrangements and remixing are an utter triumph. Some of their basslines are awesome – seat-wobblingly, deeply, deadly awesome.
If it is clarity you want, however, then plenty has gone awry. When its just one or two voices and some simple backing, then things are relatively fine. But as soon as the orchestrations get in the least bit lush, not only does the singing become lost in the mix but it also loses any sense of dynamic flow.
It is a situation which leaves characterisation floundering, lyrics incomprehensible and the whole piece generally feeling flat. Worst affected are the famous lines from the title song, about wanting to live forever and learning how to fly, high.
Delivered by Jodie Steele as tragic Carmen Diaz – the student who wants to fly the highest and crashes the hardest – Fame becomes a horrific screech. Great pipes she might have, but a brace of stunt high-notes is not enough to sell a song. And to add insult to injury, when Steele tells the audience to sing-along for the song’s reprise in the finale, saying in true pantomime style “Let’s see if you know the words”, there is little to indicate that she does herself.
The problem for Steele is that Carmen is the least believable character in this 21st century version of the show. All that want-it-now, corner-cutting attitude without at least a mention of X Factor – or any other generic talent competition – just does not feel right.
Other characters, who have less to contend with in their solo numbers, fare rather better. Sarah Harlington might not have the most lovely of voices as Serena, the star-struck drama student who falls for already famous classmate Nick, but she uses is well.
Harlington’s Let’s Play a Love Scene really begins to put Serena at the heart of the production – a place she reinforces with Think of Meryl Streep. Both songs are delivered simply, helping drive the plot along and Harlington build her character.
There’s more simplicity from Landi Oshinowo as Miss Sherman with These Are My Children, which allows her to increase the quality several notches in the one number. While Molly Stewart, as oversized dancer Mabel, makes the most of Mabel’s Prayer, delivered as a hard driving soul number.
It is in the dancing that this really excels. While the side-story about Tyrone Jackson’s failing academic studies feels too slightly drawn, Alex Thomas’s dancing is big, high-kicking and extravagant stuff. The ballet sequences with Sasi Strallen as Iris have a fluid, contemporary feel to them.
The dance energy goes through the whole cast, too, with ensemble routines that are strongly choreographed and delivered with real discipline, while the energy levels never fall away over the evening.
Running time 2 hours 45 mins.
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3AA
Tue 22 – Sat 26 April 2014.
Daily: 7.30pm; matinees Wed, Sat: 2.30pm.
Full details and tickets on the Playhouse website: www.atgtickets.com
Tour website: www.fame-the-musical.com
The show on twitter: @fameuktour
Fame the Musical on tour: |
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21 – 26 April | Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre |
0844 871 3014 | Book online |
28 April – 3 May | Stoke Regent Theatre |
0844 871 7649 | Book online |
5 – 10 May | Salford Lowry Theatre |
0843 208 6000 | Book online |
12 – 17 May | Milton Keynes Milton Keynes Theatre |
0844 871 7652 | Book online |
19 – 24 May | Woking New Victoria Theatre |
0844 871 7645 | Book online |
26 – 31 May | Bristol Hippodrome Theatre |
0844 871 3012 | Book online |
2 – 7 June | Coventry Belgrade Theatre |
024 7655 3055 | Book online |
9 – 14 June | Darlington Civic Theatre |
01325 486555 | Book online |
16 – 21 June | Hull New Theatre |
01482 300 300 | Book online |
23 – 28 June | Glasgow Kings Theatre |
0844 871 7648 | Book online |
30 June – 5 July | St Albans Arena |
01727 8444 88 | Book online |
14 – 19 July | Torquay Princess Theatre |
0844 871 3023 | Book online |
21 – 26 July | Bromley Churchill Theatre |
0844 871 7620 | Book online |
28 July – 2 Aug | Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre |
0844 576 3000 | Book online |
5 – 9 Aug | Truro Hall for Cornwall |
01872 262466 | Book online |
11 – 16 Aug | Perth Concert Hall |
01738 621031 | Book online |
18 – 23 Aug | Canterbury Marlowe Theatre |
01227 787787 | Book online |
25 – 30 Aug | Malvern Festival Theatre |
01684 892 277 | Book online |
1 – 6 Sep | Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre |
01224 641122 | Book online |
15 – 20 Sep | Chesterfield Winding Wheel |
01246 345 222 | Book online |
22 – 27 Sep | Dartford Orchard Theatre |
01322 220000 | Book online |
29 Sep – 4 Oct | Shrewsbury Severn Theatre |
01743 281281 | Book online |
6 – 11 Oct | Southsea Kings Theatre |
023 9282 8282 | Book online |
13 – 18 Oct | Kings Lynn Corn Exchange |
01553 764 864 | Book online |
ENDS
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