HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1991-05-15, Page 12SPFCL4II FF.ATI]RR
South
Huron
District
High
School
sells
out all
four
nights
of
"Fame"
Photography by
Adrian Harte
Times -Advocate, May 15, 1991
Page 11
Finale - Louise AugG and Ryan Good tum up the heat in "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome".
Coco - Aimde Gelinas played the performing arts student who "could
do it all", and who sang in both opening and closing numbers -the fa-
miliar refrain of Fame.
Drama class - The crass comments of Ralph (Steve Heywood) fail to '
Impress Doris (Sally Morgan at left) or the performing arts drama
teacher (Jenny Wareham at right).
Be ow - Dance teacher (Amy Relouw at far right) puts her class
hopefuls to the test.
of
World Power One of the wilder numbers
hopping,
in the show kept
things Fame a celebration
of talent, with talent
By Adrian Harte
EXETER - South Huron District
High School's production of Fame
last week proved to be a very ambi-
tious undertaking for a secondary
school drama group, and yet they
succeeded with an entertaining and
visually interesting show.
Considering Fame is usually per-
formed by professional actors play-
ing exceptionally talented high
school students, one can appreciate
the challenge in casting those roles
from the students of a normal high
school.
By setting the stage across the
width of the school's smaller gym-
nasium, director Glenda Burrell al-
lowed plenty of room for the virtu-
ally is dance numbers that
are pillars of the show.
While Fane deals with the lives
and ambitions of the select students
admitted to New Yorks School of
Performing Arts, and the grim reali-
zation precious few of them will
ever make the "big time", the show
was not without its humour. One
scene where an overzealous mother
(Bonnie Watson) brings a snapshot
camera to her daughter's audition is
priceless.
And when one student (Sally
Morgan) becomes self critical:
"I'm about as flamboyant as a ba-
gel", her friend (Darren Boyle) con-
soies her saying "Some people like
bagels".
Although it seems like yesterday
Fane was playing the theatres and
became a popular TV show, it is
aging rapidly. Frequent references
to Freddie Prinze now seem anti-
quated. The comedian died in
1977, and few high school students
would remember him today.
The screenplay has been updated
through the use of current rap and
rock rhythms for the dances, along
with on anal compositions by Dan
Thiel played live, which helps
bridge the decade wide gap a little.
But again, the music and dancing
is what holds it all together. The
dance !cache's at the school of per-
forming arts bemoan a shortage of
male dance, so it is no small contri-
bution that the five male SHDHS
dancers offer the performance, with
Rtb Drouillard playing Leroy mak-
ing the whole play possible.
Fame continues in South Huron's
tradition of putting together first
class high school shows. In fact, it
was sold out each of the four nights
it ran - Wednesday to Saturday.
Unfortunately, the overflow park-
ing generated by the show no doubt
had a few parents and friends wish-
ing they had car pooled a bit more.
The Exeter Police were out ticket-
ing those illegally parked cars on
the street.