I'm Mark & I've been a Fame fan since the beginning of the TV Series in 1982. This blog is dedicated to the incredibly talented cast of the show who have brought so much comfort and pleasure to my life over the last 40 odd years.
Every week day we post and our Archive can be found on the Kids from Fame Media TV Series Archive Website.
Including Interviews, Episode Information and Videos, Scripts, Merchandise, MP3 Downloads, Reunions, Fan Fiction, Cast and Crew Information.
While 9-to-5ers can simply call in sick if they’re feeling under the weather, taking time off is much more complicated for Broadway stars. Understudies must be prepped, and devoted fans who shell out more than $100 for a ticket get upset hearing their favorite performers are out. And with marquee names, there’s even a risk of tickets being refunded altogether.
So how do dedicated actors keep singing out and kicking high eight times a week? Here, a few of Broadway’s brightest stars reveal to The Post their secrets for staying well.
The cure: Hot water, cider vinegar and steam
“I haven’t missed a show due to sickness since 2004, maybe,” says Michael Cerveris, the Tony Award-winning star of the musical “Fun Home.” The actor relies on his trusty humidifier, which he cranks up every night during the winter when New York apartments are driest. In the morning, “my first step is to get in the shower and surround myself [with] the steam,” he says. Then he heads to his pantry. “Apple cider vinegar is always on my shelf,” he adds. “It helps your body fight infection.” He stirs a tablespoon into hot water and drinks. Cerveris shows up even if he isn’t feeling 100 percent. “Maybe it’s a fear that I have really good understudies and I don’t want people to know how good they are.”
42nd Streetcomes from the season 6 episode "All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing". Written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin it is performed by Elisa Heinsohn. Download MP3
"It's Love I'm After" comes from the season 6 episode "All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing". Written by Allan Roy Scott it is performed by Michael Cerveris and Carrie Hamilton.
"Someone To Watch Over Me" comes from the season 6 episode "All Talking, All Singing , All Dancing". Written by Ira and George Gershwin it is performed by Nia Peeples.
After a couple of days of feeling a little lost, I knew I had to shake myself out of this low. I was watching the videos taken at the reunion concert and seeing all the photos everyone was sharing on Facebook and I began to feel inspired once again. I started to think of the future. We all need something to look forward to.
So many people had missed out on the Reunion concert. A couple of people in the U.K.had tried to start a campaign to try and get a Reunion show in the U.K. Erica Gimpel and Nia Peeples had both mentioned the possibility of the cast doing more together.
We all need more Fame and I needed a new Dream.
So that new dream is a U.K. concert and Fame convention in London. I have no experience of this kind of thing and no contacts in the entertainment business but some how I want to make this happen.
I'm not setting a timescale because it will take as long as it takes. Ideally it would be in time for the 35th Anniversary next year but something like this could take a longer time to organise.
I don't have the money to finance it myself so there will need to be a lot of fundraising and we'll need a promoter and an organising team. That's where you guys come in.
Want to help make the Fame dream become a reality? Does Anyone have any experience in organising a concert or convention or fundraising on a large scale? Does Anyone have contacts with promoters, backers or people in the media that could help? If so I want to hear from you! Even if the answer is no to those questions but you want to help then I want to hear from you!
Together we are strong and we can achieve our dreams.
I appreciate some people will want this to be in America but I don't live there so it would be impossible for me to organise it there but any American fan or fans who wants to take responsibility for an American Concert and wants to join forces to fund raise and promote the show and try to bring the dream to America then also please contact me.
"Broadway Melody" comes from the season 6 episode "All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing". Written by Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown and Charles King, it is performed by Elisa Heinsohn.
"Three Cool Cats" comes from the season 5 episode "Contacts". Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller it is performed by Jesse Borrego, Nia Peeples, Gene Anthony Ray and Shaun Earl.
After 3 hours sleep it was soon time to get up, have breakfast, meet up with Derek and Diego to drive to Milan Airport to make our way back to London. On the way Derek told me about what happened at the after show after we'd left. The cast had stayed and a couple of the fans including him and Penny got up and sang to the cast.
It sounded great and I wished I'd stayed but knew we had a long day ahead of us travelling and needed some sleep. I was also aware that the cast were meeting up that day with some fans for a meal before they made their way back to America or in Nia's case travel around Italy for a week or in Valerie's case travel on to Paris.
Again I wished I could have been at this meal and got a chance to say a proper goodbye to the cast but I hadn't known about it and we needed to get back to England as we had a funeral to go to in a few days time.
The flight home was uneventful although there were beautiful views from the plane over the Alps and even Michael dared to look out of the plane window. We were staying the night in a hotel in London, before taking the long train home the next day. The original plan was to do some sightseeing when we arrived in London. However we felt incredibly tired and just stayed in the hotel and had an early night.
I also felt very emotional and in the early hours of the next morning I sat and cried. Part of it was that I was sad that the adventure was all over. I was sad to be leaving new friends whom I'd shared this crazy few days with, not knowing if we'd ever meet again. Part of it was still being tired and part of it was I was now back to reality had to deal with the funeral of my father in law.
It had been a rollercoaster of a few days. So much had happened in such a short space of time. While it was happening I just went with the flow and took it all in my stride. Now I was ableto take a step back and to start to process what had happened. All those dreams of meeting the cast and going to a concert again after all these years, they had finally come true. I was over the moon about that but it also felt like a double edged sword. I almost felt empty. What happens now? Where do I go from here? What new dreams are there to reach for when you'd done far more than you ever imagined you could possibly do?At that point in time I didn't know the answers to any of these questions and all I could do was let the emotion wash over me.
