Post by ryan on Sept 19, 2005 18:43:15 GMT 11
Hey folks,
Well folks, we're into the last week of "Fame- The Musical".
Here's a review from Theatre People. A fairly detailed one, and pretty objective. Can't say I agree with all of it, but that's the beauty of theatre; everyone's more than welcome to their opinions.
FAME
Presented by: Dandenong Theatre Company
Date Reviewed: 9th September 2005
Venue: Monash Secondary College Theatre
Reviewer: John Azzopardi
Best known to most theatre people as a costume designer, John has been involved in theatre and music for the past 20 years. He holds a Diploma of Costume for performance, a graduate diploma of Opera from the VCA and both Associate and Licentiate diplomas on clarinet. John has performed on stage in roles such as Nanki-Poo in ‘The Mikado’, Freddy Einsford-Hill in ‘My Fair Lady’, Papageno in ‘The Magic Flute’, the Vicar in ‘Albert Herring’ and Anthony in ‘Sweeney Todd’ not to mention performing in many and varied ensembles from Opera to Musical Theatre.
John’s work as a costume designer has involved shows such as’ Fiddler on the Roof’ , ‘42nd Street’, ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Hello Dolly’ for Whitehorse Musical Theatre, ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ for Heidelberg Theatre Company, ‘Follies in Concert’ for Broadway Baby Productions,
‘Stepping Out’ for Southern Cross Theatre Company and ‘COSI’ for Fab Nobs. Currently John is working on a production of ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ for CLOC Musical Theatre. John works in the wardrobe department of Melbourne Theatre Company.
FAME – The Musical is very loosely based on the hit 80’s movie of the same title. It doesn’t contain the any of the same characters and the only song you will know from it is the title song “FAME”. Set in the New York High School for Performing Arts we follow a group of angst-ridden teenagers through the trials and tribulations of American School Life in 1984.
The play (as director Paul Watson will tell you himself) has a very weak book. I would even venture to say that it has an even weaker score – except for the inclusion of the title song.
The characters are transparent and 2 dimensional. The songs are instantly forgettable and the plot line is all but non existent. Having said this, I would like to stress that this is the writer’s fault and not the production team’s. So as I am here to review the production and not the play itself, let’s get on with it. I went to see DTC’s Fame on their preview night and here is my humble opinion.
Director Paul Watson has taken a very flimsy piece of theatre and created what can only be described as a very entertaining show. His subtle re-working of the script has worked well. Removing many of the “pashing” scenes and Americanisms was a very sensible approach to this show and it has been done without removing anything from the story. In fact in the scene where Schlomo misses his one opportunity to tell Carmen that he loves her it has heightened the emotion. Anyone that has worked in the Monash Secondary College Theatre will know what a nightmare it can be to use. Paul should be congratulated on his efforts with Fame as it worked wonderfully.
Musical Director Ryan Jacobs has done an outstanding job with the vocal work. The band was really good and tight except for the string section who were quite weak and often out of tune. This is forgiven as they don’t play a major part in the show. This is the first show I have seen that he has MD’d and I would love to see more of his work.
Kate Bryant as Choreographer made a valiant effort to stage some of the large dance numbers in this show. Being set in a school for the performing arts, Kate had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately I don’t think she got there a lot of the time and in my opinion, the dancing was one of the things that let the show down. None of the dancing was polished or tight. The obvious division of dancers and non-dancers annoyed me and the fact that cast never came forward from the pro arch onto the apron distracted me as they would not have seemed so crowded.
The other thing that let the show down for me was the sound. Now I know this is a problem for a lot of companies and often theatres like the Monash are very difficult to mic. At times I could not hear anything from the lead vocalists and rarely could I hear anything that the “teaching staff” said or sang. Having said this it is important to remember that this was a preview night and I am sure that these bugs will be ironed out in time for opening night.
On the up side now, Jason Bouvaird’s set was really simple but effective. I loved the use of the cast to set the scenes making the show almost seamless. It was great.
It was however, nothing in comparison to the lighting design. There was nothing intrusive or off-putting by the lighting. They worked well as part of a team. Something not often seen in amateur theatre these days. Well done.
Kym Davies was listed as concept designer as well as costume designer. I am not sure what the job of concept designer entailed in this performance with a separate designer for everything and no obvious concept to be seen. However, her costumes were great. I instantly felt like I was back in 1984 and had flash backs of “Pretty in Pink”, “The Breakfast Club” and even “21 Jump Street”. I also have to give the award for most effective footwear in an amateur show that I have ever seen. From Converse All-stars to Mary Jane’s. The shoes were great. There were probably a lot of “brought from home jobs” but none of them were noticeable.
I only wish the ensemble had taken their lead from their wonderful costume designer and researched a few hair styles. Since most of the ensemble would have been a mere twinkle in their father’s eye in 1984, they needed some help with hair.
On the subject of the ensemble – WOW! This is one talented group of kids. There are most certainly a lot of up and coming performers in this show that need to be snapped up. The ensemble singing was amazing. There strength and enthusiasm was contagious. Nina Strahan and Matty Holly are two members of the ensemble that I could not keep my eyes off all night. They were incredible. Full of energy and talent.
The leads in this show were good. They all had pleasant voices and were good to watch. However two people especially stood out to me.
Jessi Leigh as big brassy Mabel Washington was a sensation. Not only did I believe her character, but I also cared about her. When she sang her “Mabel’s Prayer” she had the audience in fits of laughter and deservedly so.
Natasha Bassett as Miss Sherman the English teacher has an incredible voice. I haven’t seen a lot of Natasha’s work but dearly would love to see more. This was a very under rated part for some one with such talent. Look out girls, there is some major competition out there in Natasha.
In my opinion, DTC’s “FAME” is an entertaining show with some stand out performances. It isn’t Shakespeare, but with all things considered this is well worth the price of a ticket to see. Do yourself a favour and have a really fun night at the theatre while supporting a smaller company and some very talented kids.
Well folks, we're into the last week of "Fame- The Musical".
Here's a review from Theatre People. A fairly detailed one, and pretty objective. Can't say I agree with all of it, but that's the beauty of theatre; everyone's more than welcome to their opinions.
FAME
Presented by: Dandenong Theatre Company
Date Reviewed: 9th September 2005
Venue: Monash Secondary College Theatre
Reviewer: John Azzopardi
Best known to most theatre people as a costume designer, John has been involved in theatre and music for the past 20 years. He holds a Diploma of Costume for performance, a graduate diploma of Opera from the VCA and both Associate and Licentiate diplomas on clarinet. John has performed on stage in roles such as Nanki-Poo in ‘The Mikado’, Freddy Einsford-Hill in ‘My Fair Lady’, Papageno in ‘The Magic Flute’, the Vicar in ‘Albert Herring’ and Anthony in ‘Sweeney Todd’ not to mention performing in many and varied ensembles from Opera to Musical Theatre.
John’s work as a costume designer has involved shows such as’ Fiddler on the Roof’ , ‘42nd Street’, ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Hello Dolly’ for Whitehorse Musical Theatre, ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ for Heidelberg Theatre Company, ‘Follies in Concert’ for Broadway Baby Productions,
‘Stepping Out’ for Southern Cross Theatre Company and ‘COSI’ for Fab Nobs. Currently John is working on a production of ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ for CLOC Musical Theatre. John works in the wardrobe department of Melbourne Theatre Company.
FAME – The Musical is very loosely based on the hit 80’s movie of the same title. It doesn’t contain the any of the same characters and the only song you will know from it is the title song “FAME”. Set in the New York High School for Performing Arts we follow a group of angst-ridden teenagers through the trials and tribulations of American School Life in 1984.
The play (as director Paul Watson will tell you himself) has a very weak book. I would even venture to say that it has an even weaker score – except for the inclusion of the title song.
The characters are transparent and 2 dimensional. The songs are instantly forgettable and the plot line is all but non existent. Having said this, I would like to stress that this is the writer’s fault and not the production team’s. So as I am here to review the production and not the play itself, let’s get on with it. I went to see DTC’s Fame on their preview night and here is my humble opinion.
Director Paul Watson has taken a very flimsy piece of theatre and created what can only be described as a very entertaining show. His subtle re-working of the script has worked well. Removing many of the “pashing” scenes and Americanisms was a very sensible approach to this show and it has been done without removing anything from the story. In fact in the scene where Schlomo misses his one opportunity to tell Carmen that he loves her it has heightened the emotion. Anyone that has worked in the Monash Secondary College Theatre will know what a nightmare it can be to use. Paul should be congratulated on his efforts with Fame as it worked wonderfully.
Musical Director Ryan Jacobs has done an outstanding job with the vocal work. The band was really good and tight except for the string section who were quite weak and often out of tune. This is forgiven as they don’t play a major part in the show. This is the first show I have seen that he has MD’d and I would love to see more of his work.
Kate Bryant as Choreographer made a valiant effort to stage some of the large dance numbers in this show. Being set in a school for the performing arts, Kate had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately I don’t think she got there a lot of the time and in my opinion, the dancing was one of the things that let the show down. None of the dancing was polished or tight. The obvious division of dancers and non-dancers annoyed me and the fact that cast never came forward from the pro arch onto the apron distracted me as they would not have seemed so crowded.
The other thing that let the show down for me was the sound. Now I know this is a problem for a lot of companies and often theatres like the Monash are very difficult to mic. At times I could not hear anything from the lead vocalists and rarely could I hear anything that the “teaching staff” said or sang. Having said this it is important to remember that this was a preview night and I am sure that these bugs will be ironed out in time for opening night.
On the up side now, Jason Bouvaird’s set was really simple but effective. I loved the use of the cast to set the scenes making the show almost seamless. It was great.
It was however, nothing in comparison to the lighting design. There was nothing intrusive or off-putting by the lighting. They worked well as part of a team. Something not often seen in amateur theatre these days. Well done.
Kym Davies was listed as concept designer as well as costume designer. I am not sure what the job of concept designer entailed in this performance with a separate designer for everything and no obvious concept to be seen. However, her costumes were great. I instantly felt like I was back in 1984 and had flash backs of “Pretty in Pink”, “The Breakfast Club” and even “21 Jump Street”. I also have to give the award for most effective footwear in an amateur show that I have ever seen. From Converse All-stars to Mary Jane’s. The shoes were great. There were probably a lot of “brought from home jobs” but none of them were noticeable.
I only wish the ensemble had taken their lead from their wonderful costume designer and researched a few hair styles. Since most of the ensemble would have been a mere twinkle in their father’s eye in 1984, they needed some help with hair.
On the subject of the ensemble – WOW! This is one talented group of kids. There are most certainly a lot of up and coming performers in this show that need to be snapped up. The ensemble singing was amazing. There strength and enthusiasm was contagious. Nina Strahan and Matty Holly are two members of the ensemble that I could not keep my eyes off all night. They were incredible. Full of energy and talent.
The leads in this show were good. They all had pleasant voices and were good to watch. However two people especially stood out to me.
Jessi Leigh as big brassy Mabel Washington was a sensation. Not only did I believe her character, but I also cared about her. When she sang her “Mabel’s Prayer” she had the audience in fits of laughter and deservedly so.
Natasha Bassett as Miss Sherman the English teacher has an incredible voice. I haven’t seen a lot of Natasha’s work but dearly would love to see more. This was a very under rated part for some one with such talent. Look out girls, there is some major competition out there in Natasha.
In my opinion, DTC’s “FAME” is an entertaining show with some stand out performances. It isn’t Shakespeare, but with all things considered this is well worth the price of a ticket to see. Do yourself a favour and have a really fun night at the theatre while supporting a smaller company and some very talented kids.