Bravo for FAME!

March 31, 2011
Filed under Entertainment

by Heather Arndt

When people hear the reference of Fame in theater, they automatically think of the recent movie.  Fame has been remade by different adaptations of the movie and the musical as well.  Very few people have seen the musical version, which is a shame, because it is definitely worth attending.  LC Fine Arts recently presented their own production of Fame! The Musical.   The cast, crew, and directors deserve an incredible amount of respect because a show like this is incredibly taxing on them. There is so much singing and dancing involved, all the while, acting.

Fame follows the high school career of a group of dancers, actors, and musicians who are attending the New York High School of Performing Arts. The students go through dealing with drugs, sex, partying, the journey to and the dark side of fame, dating, and forming relationships. The musical follows the students from the beginning of their freshman year to the end of their senior year; ending at graduation.  The cast was a large cast with fourteen lead roles and a large chorus.  With a lot of people it can be difficult to coordinate dances and blocking, especially with a limited amount of space. The energy of the cast and the production in general was incredibly high, especially Saturday night. In any type of theatrical production, the cast definitely feeds off of the crowd’s energy and this was true of Saturday night. The music and dancing as well as acting was fantastic, in addition to a great energy.

Although they had limited space, the cast utilized it well. The acting was really advanced for actors of such young ages.  The lead roles were played by actors of all grade levels.  Erin Young, a freshman, played Ms. Sherman and really captured the emotion of her role incredibly  well for being so young and lacking the experience that more advanced actors in the production had.   The entire musical is set in a high school, but at the same time, allows you to have a peek into the characters’ private lives.  Suzie Barnett, who played the role of Carmen Diaz, must be commended on her acting skills.  She had a very difficult role to fulfill by the type of emotions she had to portray and the different things she had to go through. She goes through drug use, being a more difficult student, her journey to fame and seeing the darker side of it, coming back and being homeless, and ultimately her death by a drug overdose.

Fame! The Musical is an incredibly intricate production, from the set design, to costume design, acting music and dance, blocking etc.  It was obvious that a lot of time, effort, and passion was spent preparing to open the show.  The actors showed that they have a lot of heart and it was an incredibly good show. Ultimately, the cast and crew of Fame! The Musical pulled off an amazing show.