Area students bring Fame to the stage

By Tom Moore

Many are familiar with Fame the movie, but when the play of the same name opens September 10 in Laredo , audiences should not expect an identical adaptation. The story is similar, following the lives of students at a performing arts high school. But the concept has been modified to reflect the existence of the film.

“The show is based on the last four years of this fine arts high school,” said Dr. Mary Grace Carroll, musical director of the production. “In the play, the movie has just been made, so the students are aware that they've become celebrities. And that's part of the message of the show. As one teacher says: ‘It's not going to work. You can't do that here. You have to work.'”

The play, produced by the Vidal M. Treviño School Of Communications and Fine Arts and Laredo Community College in cooperation with Music Theatre International, is set for Friday and Saturday, September 10 and 11, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, September 12, at 3 p.m., at the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center on the LCC campus. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are on sale at door.

Together with Dr. Carroll, the production staff includes stage director Vernon Carroll, choreographer Bede Leyendecker, music conductor Brendan Townsend, technical director Zane Richter, and producer Sam Johnson.

In rehearsal since the end of May, the cast of the musical is comprised mainly of students from local high schools, Texas A&M International University , and LCC. Their experiences in the production have paralleled the play's theme of working hard to make artistic aspirations a reality.

“The message that we're sending is that, if you live your dream, you will have your dream, and don't let anyone get in your way. And a lot of these kids have not ever sung or acted or danced, and now they're doing just fine,” said Dr. Carroll.

As stage director, Vernon Carroll is well aware of the progress made by the students, working with them through the summer to draw out and fine tune their acting performances.

“This is a great group of kids,” he said. “Some of them have never been on stage before. Some of them have been onstage as singers, in a choir, but not as actors and dancers. Some of them have had dance experience, quite a lot of dance experience, but they've never acted a role before. So we've got singers who've never acted, dancers who've never acted, actors who've never sung, actors who've never danced, all working together. And they're teaching each other much more about how to do this than I ever could. And that's a great thing to be a part of. We've got newbies up there, we've got veterans up there. They're full of enthusiasm, they work hard. Sometimes it's like trying to herd cats. But when they're headed in the same direction, then it's fantastic.”

Even more so than a non-musical, a production like Fame requires much coordination behind the scenes.

“There's a lot of collaboration that goes on,” said Carroll. “I really think it's important that choreographers and music directors and musicians get the credit they deserve for what they do in a musical. I stage the show. I block the actors, I move them around, and I work with the rest of the team to make sure that what the audience sees and hears is what they paid to see and hear. And ultimately the responsibility of the show belongs with me, but doing a musical, I try to give the music director and the choreographer as much leeway as possible. I'm not going to tell somebody who teaches them the dances and who creates the dances how to do that. They already know how to do their job very well. What I'm going to say is, the actors and dancers start the dance right here, and at the end of the dance I want them standing here right over here . And the choreographer fills that in. It's more than like putting together a puzzle. We have to work together so that the mood and the storyline are consistent all the way through. So that if somebody's doing an acting scene, and then there's a song, they segue into each other. It's logical that the song has the same mood and is an outgrowth of what they say, and vice versa.”

Sam Johnson's responsibilities as the show's producer include helping raise money to underwrite the effort, working with LCC to arrange use of the auditorium, making the programs, and coordinating publicity. He visited rehearsal often, and commended the work he saw there.

“It's so tremendous,” said Johnson. “It's interesting especially to see it in certain of the students. Vernon was just talking to the cast about always being in character. I remember at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York, they were doing Anything Goes , and two of the secondary leads walked to the edge of the stage and totally dropped out of character. And everybody looked at them. So these kids are taking it to heart. They're moving real well. I remember some of them came in, they couldn't find the note. And now they're singing. Mary Grace has done a great job working with them.”

For more information on performances or tickets contact the VMT School Of Communications and Fine Arts at 795-3325.