"FAME" ends national tour in Thousand Oaks:
Showcasing original songs in addition to its Academy award-winning
title theme, “FAME – The Musical” will end its national tour in California with a four-day run at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.
The musical, presented by the Theater League, is a bit different from the hit 1980 film and Emmy award-winning television series that ran from 1982 to 1987, said Dom Ruggiero, the show’s director.
“They make a reference to the movie at the very beginning of the musical,” said Ruggiero, who lives in New York. “It picks up where the movie left off and they’ve graduated."
Like the movie, the musical is very uplifting with the same universal message, he said.
“It shows a bunch of young kids who want to follow their dreams — as long as you work hard at it and strive for it, you probably will attain it,” Ruggiero said. “Maybe not to the degree that you thought, but you will still attain part of that dream, so don’t give up.”
The movie “FAME,” originally inspired by David De Silva, earned four Academy Award nominations. The film is about a group of students at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City.
“Everybody is looking for a little piece of fame — everybody is looking for their way to make a mark on the world,” said Kris Roberts, who plays the lead role of Carmen in the musical.
“It’s a dream role of mine,” Roberts said. “Carmen is absolutely determined to meet her goal to become a star — to be famous. She’s obsessed with fame and everybody knowing her name. She goes on to pursue this fame, but it’s her downfall. There are some pitfalls. And the moral is that some of the things we do to pursue fame can also be harmful.”
In the musical, “these are the same types of characters but not the same names and not the same instances, but they’re similar, so the framework of the musical is similar to the TV show and the movie,” Ruggiero said.
“David De Silva has been working with us on mounting this production and was very kind to us when we asked if we could make adjustments with our cast and musical numbers,” Ruggiero said. “David was willing to work with us and I was so very thrilled with that.”
The musical will feature several original songs, including the 11-minute opening number, "Hard Work," as well as "These Are My Children," "I Wanna Make Magic" and "Meryl Streep."
“I hope that a lot of young people and some of the local high school students of the performing arts come and see it,” Ruggiero said. “They can meet the cast backstage and see how a tour works — so I think they’ll get a lot out of it.”
Roberts hopes the musical will inspire audiences to follow their dreams, “but be smart about it; make a plan and really go for it.”
“It’s really inspirational in that a lot of people don’t get to follow their dreams, or they want things but don’t take the steps to get there,” Roberts added. “This musical will hopefully light a fire under everyone and let them know it’s possible for them.”
The musical will run Jan. 5 through Jan. 8, with a special guest appearance by Carlo Imperato on the evening of Jan. 7. Imperato, who portrayed high school student Danny Amatullo in the television series, is now a married father of three.
“FAME is such an original and I’m so lucky to be part of the original cast,” said Imperato, of West Hills.
“FAME is such an original and I’m so lucky to be part of the original cast,” said Imperato, of West Hills.
“That’s the part where FAME is going to live forever — it really is,” Imperato said. “No matter what you’re going for in life … you have to really have guts and you really have to take the bull by the horns and go for your dreams — that’s the part that always stuck with me.”
Thanks to Kim for sending this to me.
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