Fame – The Musical

From the moment the screen lifts, the cast of Birdie Productions’ Fame – The Musical delivers a high energy performance. The choreography is tight and the movements sharp, rivalling professional musicals, while the acting and harmonies are strong.

Based on the 1980 movie, Fame – The Musical is set during the last years of New York City’s celebrated High School for the Performing Arts on 46th Street. It follows the lives of a diverse group of students as they commit to four years of gruelling artistic and academic work and explores the characters’ struggles with complex issues including ambition, fame, prejudice, identity, self-worth, literacy, sexuality, drug abuse and perseverance.

As a Pro-Am theatre company, Birdie Productions provides the opportunity for many up and coming performers to make their stage debut next to more seasoned performers.

The stand out for me was Lyndall Wennekes as the shy Serena Katz. Having recently placed in the top six on The Voice Australia, it was hard to fathom that Fame was Lyndall’s musical theatre debut. Her voice was stunning and you couldn’t help but fall in love with her facial expressions. She also held her own with the dancing and is definitely someone I hope we see more of on stage.

Kat Hoyos, known for her role as Layla Habib in Channel Nine’s Here Come The Habibs, and who has a number of professional stage credits to her name, plays Carmen Diaz. While Kat is an amazing dancer and acted well, I felt that she struggled with pitch at times. I heard that she had the flu so perhaps it was an off night and she did well to keep up the energy.

All the leads had great characterisation and there were some wonderful vocal performances by Zach Selmes as Nick and Daniella Mirels as Mabel and dance performances by Dani Bainbridge as Iris and Adrian Espulso as Tyrone. Tara Barr and Linda Hale were also passionate and fiery in “Teacher’s Argument”.

The production was cleverly staged and dealt well with the challenges of a small stage and no wings. The set which consisted of several levels of fencing and scaffolding used the height of the theatre well and made the entries and exits less obvious while giving the audience the feel of being in an old school building. Prop and set changes were kept to a minimum and were seamlessly integrated into the show with cast taking the majority of props on and off stage.

I also loved the way the Musical Director, Nicholas Gentile had a cameo role as the music teacher and looked like he was stepping into a music classroom every time he went back to conducting the band.

The Choreographer, Emma Jarman and Assistant Choreographer, Jay Johns have done an amazing job of commanding a massive cast (more than 40 people). While it was great to see so many young performers gain some stage experience, I felt in the bigger numbers that there were too many bodies on stage and I didn’t know where to look because so much was happening. I also felt the dancers may have been restricted in their movement due to the lack of space, although they covered this well. The dance number that was the most effective with less people on stage was “Dancin on the Side Walk”.

Having such a large cast meant the sound was amazing, particularly in the “Bring on Tomorrow (reprise)” where they stood still and sang, however there were times when the band drowned out some of the singing.

Finally, it’s not often that a member of the ensemble gets a mention in a review, but myself and the people sitting around me, thought Marisa Clarke was a little pocket rocket, bringing great enthusiasm and commitment to her performance. She was such a ball of energy that even her curls bounced every time she moved and she was a joy to watch!

Birdie Productions’ season continues next weekend and is well worth seeing. At the same time, you will also support Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation which provides early intervention mental health services to 12-25 year olds, along with assistance in promoting young peoples’ wellbeing.

Shannon O’Connell

Images: Lukeography