I remember the film. I remember the TV show. It seemed destined to live forever in pop culture. So why is the show so disappointing? To be clear, I’m talking about the script, music and lyrics. The cast do their absolute best, but the show itself is weak. Having seen Avenue Q and then The Rocky Horror Show touring productions at the New Wimbledon Theatre, I’ve been surprised how much I enjoy the pared back, simpler versions which can allow smaller shows to thrive. I was equally surprised at how this show, five years younger than that Sweet Transvestite and his Transylvanian buddies, has aged so much worse.
First let’s cover the good stuff.
Soul star Mica Paris raises the entire evening to another level with a staggering performance of These Are My Children. It is a thrilling moment that also highlights how lacking in substance the rest of the show is.
Simon Anthony is a delight as Schlomo and displays real depth in his performance, actually bringing his sweet and talented dreamer to life.
Sadly the same can’t be said for anyone else. Not through lack of trying but because the characters are so poorly drawn. There’s a ditsy dancer who can’t stop eating, a wannabee Romeo and resident class clown, a tough girl drummer, a plain girl in love with the boy who was famous in a childhood advert and others with (hard to believe) even less defined personalities.
Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter plays a ballerina who arrives in a limo but doesn’t let on her dad is the driver. That’s pretty much her entire psychological profile. Her dancing, however, is divine.
That literally is all the character depth or development you will get throughout the entire (overlong) show. For this reason, virtually none of it crosses from the stage out into the audience. It makes Hollyoaks look like Chekhov. The script is just painfull.
Stephanie Rojas has the lungs and charisma as Carmen, but is playing a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is her own worst enemy but we never really know why. Something vaguely to do with those tracks. Similarly, Jamal Crawford has the swagger and moves as Tyrone, who is also from the far side of those pesky tracks, yet his worst problem is his dyslexia, which is miraculously solved offstage.
Even so, almost everything can be forgiven in a musical if the actual, y’know, music is any good.
The live band and a trio of talented on-stage young performers, including Alexander Zane fresh from drama school as trumpeter Goody, are excellent. But I defy anyone to hum a single tune on the way out. Except, of course, the one we were all waiting for but isn’t actually from this show.
Based on an iconic movie and TV show with music at its heart, the entire score is unforgivably dull and disappointing. It was probably dated back then and it has no place on a theatre stage today.
There is an immense rise in energy when Rojas and Paris belt out the original Fame theme quite magnificently at the encore. With the talented cast all at full throttle it shows what they are capable of.
Sadly, this show about a school of the most talented people imaginable should never have graduated. Sorry kids, but this Fame is lame.
FAME THE MUSICAL TOUR: TICKETS DATES AND VENUES HERE