Grand Opera House York – until 5 August. Reviewed by Michelle Richardson
3.5***
Stage Experience once again brings musical theatre to the Grand Opera House York. Fame! “I’m gonna live forever” is the name of the game for this year’s show for the young cast members (aged between 10 – 21), directed by Louise Denison.
The show is a product of the hit 1980’s film, following a group of young hopefuls wanting to attend New York City High School for the Performing Arts, or PA as we get to know it later on. We follow the fortunes of a group of dancers, actors and musicians, the cream of the crop, from their auditions through to graduation, in the quest for one thing – fame.
The show concentrates on a selected few students, one being Carmen Diaz, played by a very confident Lydia Bradd. She does an amazing job of showcasing her dancing and acting abilities especially the vulnerability as we see Carmen on the downward spiral, seduced by the quick fix and drugs. Finn East as Joe Vegas delivers a strong comedic performance which had us all laughing. Other mentions must be given to Charlotte McCamley (Serena Katz), Amelia Cook (Mabel Washington), Luke Wilby (Nick Plazza) and Sam Rippon (Schlomo Metzenbaum) who are all integral to the story and showed different strengths in their performances.
There is another young man who I have not as yet mentioned and that is Max Mulrenan as Tyrone Jackson. He had great stage presence and there was certainly something about him. Although he can sing, dance and act, I did think sometimes that he was not quite “powerful” enough, that was until I realised that he is only 14, so young. He has so much potenial and I would love to see him in 5 – 10 years time as he matures and can truly deliver that powerful performance which he has within him.
The extremely young cast are energetic and you could feel their enthusiasm straight from the get go, you could tell that they all so wanted to be there, setting the tone for the whole show. The live music was a treat and it was so welcoming to see the conductor loving his job so much.
Overall a great vibrant show and the cast deserve to have a full house in every performance they do, especially knowing that they had less than 2 weeks to put it together.