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Saturday
21st August saw the Alexandra Theatre closing its doors to
the 2004 Summer Youth project of 'Fame - The Musical' - but
it certainly went out with a bang!
I
entered the auditorium, found my seats - which were great
seats (for a freebie!!) and started to get chatting with the
girl next to me, who was the sister of one of last years project
actors. She was really looking forward to this show - and
so was I. I became quite friendly with a few of the cast members
I'd met the previous week and I also knew some of the cast
from school - so I was looking forward to seeing and supporting
all these wannabe actors I know!
Although this was an amateur production - you wouldn't have
been able to tell. The stage sets, diverse and complex lighting
and high quality live music made the whole thing very believable
- which complimented the high quality dancing, singing and
acting on the stage.
One
of the main moments of the show would be the number, 'Hard
Work' - it was a full cast number and must have been had to
co-ordinatate everyone, but it looked amazing and certainly
got the show off to a great start.
Another
highlight would be during Scene Four and the number, 'Can't
Keep It Down' - yes, you can guess what that is about! That
was really funny and had the audience in stitches. The song
was sung by Dan Rose who played José, one of the older
members of the cast - who really hammed it up well. His dream
is to become an actor and he cannot imagine doing another
job. In his own words - 'nothing can beat the buzz of performing!'
Another
strong character who sung the theme song - Fame was 'Carman',
played by Jodie Kumble - who was straight off to India on
a plane once the show had finished on her hols - Jodie really
captured the character well and was very confident in such
a demanding role. September sees Jodie take up the immediate
offer made by Sir Paul McCartney's school, the Liverpool Institute
of Performing Arts where she starts a 3-year degree course.
The
students of the PA school were kept in line by the four teachers
in the show - Sherman (Head Teacher), Bell (Dance Teacher),
Sheinkof (Music Teacher) and Myers (Drama Teacher) who hard
a hard job of playing a character very much older than themselves
- but all pulled it off extremely well.
Another
moment which should be brought to light was from Cherrelle
Skeette who played Miss Sherman during her solo in the second
act of 'These are my Children' - which melted my heart and
made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with her strong
gospel voice!
Congratulations
must go to the production team of the show and everyone else
who worked behind the scenes to create such a top class performance!
There are too many great moments from the show to mention
- it was amazing to think the quality, style and professionalism
that was on that stage all happened in less than two weeks
- and could match, if not better the performances one could
see on the West End.
Oh,
in case you are wondering - their American accents were done
really well Â… thank goodness for that!
Meet
the kids from Fame
JJ's
not-so-secret diary
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