Fame - casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
NATALIE Casey and Ian ‘H’ Watkins will lead the cast of the popular musical Fame when it returns to the West End for a limited summer season at the Shaftesbury Theatre – previews from May 4, 2007.
Casey, who will play Serena, is a familiar face on television following roles in Two Pints of Lager (and a Packet of Crisps) (as Donna) and Hollyoaks (as Carol Groves).
On stage, she has appeared in Hobson’s Choice, The Vagina Monologues and The Flint Street Nativity.
Former Steps member Watkins’ stage credits include both touring and West End productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. While recently, he appeared on television in Celebrity Big Brother. In Fame, he will take on the role of Nick.
The cast will also include Natalie Kennedy, Desi Valentine, Fem Belling, Phil Cole, George Maguire, Emma Francis, Danielle Cato, Kevin McGuire, Fabien Eloise, Chris Piper, Sean Selby, Hannah Job, Vicki Marie Ryan, Lewis Griffiths, John Reynolds and Jacqui Biggs.
Previously Posted: Runar Borge’s stage adaptation of the 1980 screen classic Fame returns to the West End – to the Shaftesbury Theatre – a year after closing at the Aldwych to make way for Dirty Dancing. It will run for a limited summer season – from May 8, 2007 (previews from May 4).
The dance-based musical follows a group of students from New York’s School for the Performing Arts through the highs, lows, friendships, romances and the hard work necessary for their ultimate success.
Alan Parker’s film won two Oscars – Best Original Score for Michael Gore and Best Original Song (Fame) for Gore and Dean Pitchford. An American television series of the same name subsequently ran from 1982 to 1987.
Fame first opened in the West End in 1995, at the Cambridge Theatre, and was nominated for two Olivier Awards – for Best New Musical and Best Choreography.
Since then, it has been seen at a number of West End venues as well as on tour, and by more than four million people in the UK and ten million worldwide.
A regional tour featuring Abi Finley, a finalist in BBC TV’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, will continue its 2007 run.
The Shaftesbury Theatre has recently gone dark following the closure of the Boney M musical, Daddy Cool which is itself embarking on an international tour.