The 30th anniversary tour of Fame The Musical starring Keith Jack (Any Dream Will Do, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat), Mica Paris (Love Me Tender, Chicago, Mama I Want To Sing) and Jorgie Porter (Hollyoaks, Dancing On Ice) is coming to the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells from Monday 20th to Saturday 25th August and then returns to the region to appear at the Theatre Royal Brighton from Monday 5th to Saturday 10th November.
Based on the 1980 phenomenal pop culture film, Fame The Musical is the international smash hit sensation following the lives of students at New York’s High School For The Performing Arts as they navigate their way through the highs and lows, the romances and the heartbreaks and the ultimate elation of life. This bittersweet but uplifting triumph of a show explores the issues that confront many young people today: prejudice, identity, pride, literacy, sexuality, substance abuse and perseverance.
Fame the Musical, which has seen seven West End runs since opening on Broadway in 1988, continues to be one of the best loved musicals across the world and features the Oscar-winning title song. The cast of outstanding dancers, singers, musicians and actors return to New York in the 1980’s and transform from star struck pupils to superstars.
One of those superstar actors is Keith Jack who has had a string of on-stage successes since he first appeared in the TV search for Joseph, Any Dream Will Do, back in 2007. As he prepares for opening night this week, Keith took time out from his hectic schedule to talk with me and I started by saying…
Firstly, congratulations on landing one of the lead parts in such a massive tour.
Thank you and yes, it really is massive. A whole year. It’s gonna be crazy but it’s gonna be probably the best time I’ve ever had on tour. I’ve had a great career so far, full of new and exciting things and Fame is a show that I’ve always wanted to do, with Nick the part I’ve always wanted to play, so I’m really really excited about the year ahead.
How does it feel to be in a revival of show that is the same age as you are?
Oh, please don’t say that – because I’m playing a 17 year old high school student but, I’m lucky because, when I shave off the beard, which I do for the show, I still look like a bambino, so it’s all good.
I can’t really believe that I’m doing a 30th anniversary show on my 30th, which is a bit crazy but the show really is so much fun. It’s electric, it just doesn’t stop.There are so many different stories unfolding all the time, there’s just everything going on and I’ve never been in a production like it in terms of how much it will make you smile and cry. It really works all the emotions. You’ll feel for people, you’ll hate people and you’ll go on this crazy journey with them – I really have never experienced anything like it.
Has the new production changed much from the original?
This is very much an 80’s version and it feels a lot like the TV show and the movie, it’s got that old gritty, sweat on-the-floor feeling where only really hard work and determination gets you there. It’s certainly not all glitz and glam! As Miss Sherman tells us as soon as we get in there – It’s all about hard work.
Is Nick still a rather ambiguous character?
Yes, the thing I’m working on is to try and not make him the blue-eyed boy. To try and give him that same gritty realness because he’s obviously the character who has tasted a little bit of fame already, doing commercials and things like that, so it’s all about trying to find out why he wants to go off and learn about all these great playwrights and why he wants to perform their work so very much. We don’t want him to just be a semi-famous boy who wants to try acting.
To help me create Nick, we’ve worked a lot on his back story about where he’s come from and who his family are so that we can give him a real groundness, which feels really nice when I’m playing him. The character that I play opposite is Serena, played by Molly Macguire, and she is just fantastic. We have a really good “bounce” together which is really working well. You really need to have that special someone to bounce off when you’re creating scenes and I think that, when people come to see this tour, they will feel a rawness, and a reality, about the character of Nick – hopefully.
To be honest, when I came out of the Any Dream Will Do TV programme I had to go off and prove myself. I did shows like Only the Brave at the Edinburgh Fringe, which was one of the best productions I’ve ever done, then all of the other musicals as well, and I’ve done HMS Pinafore. All of that varied work has taught me a lot about what I do. It really helps me relate to the character of Nick as he has that line in the show “I want to be a real actor, not just a TV hack” and that’s what it was like for me because I had to prove that I could be more that what they had seen in the TV show. I had a determination to succeed and to push myself forward and that’s what I want to bring to the character as well.
Nick has a great song that explains what he wants to do with his acting life, please tell me that “I Want to Make Magic” is still in the show.
Oh yes, it’s still there, twice. There is a version in act one and then he gets to reprise it in act two. That song can so easily become all floaty and lovely and pretty, but we’ve looked at it and we’ve tried to steer away from that. Even though the music is lovely and twinkly when he sings the line “I Want to Make Magic” it’s much more about the words. He wants to breathe fire on the stage, he wants to make the part just jump off the page so the song has a gritty, determined element to it as well, rather than just being a lovely balled.
The message of the film and the series was always about – if you want this, it will hurt.
Oh yes, and it does! You go through a lot to make it as an actor, singer or dancer. Real “fame” is never easy and the hard work never ends. It’s all about finding your character, what your purpose is and what you can bring to a role that is different. That’s what I would say about this show, you could come and see it five times, and follow five very different stories.
That is one of the best things about the production. It has the heart of every character and, even though you may not like a character at one point, you still find yourself smiling, laughing and crying with them all because the show has their hearts and souls running all the way through it. We don’t dance for no reason, we don’t act for no reason. Every part of Nick Winston’s amazing show has a purpose and it’s created a really close knit “family” feeling in the cast which is all down to the creative team who have picked this bunch of ridiculously talented people. It’s a production that is full to the top with talent and that’s exactly what Fame was, that’s what the programme was and that’s what the school is.
Is Nick a part of you or do you stay detached?
As with any character you play, you have to find you in it. If you got two people to play this part, with the same director, you would still get two different Nick’s because we are two different people. It’s a balance, it’s the 50-50. It is you but it is Nick at the same time, you blur the lines. You have to put yourself into that situation and at that point of your life to know what it would feel like to be that person. It’s actually a friendship between you and your character.
Is there a highlight in the show like, maybe, dancing on a yellow cab?
You know, I couldn’t really pick one number in the show that I would call a highlight. I think the whole show is a highlight. There are so many amazing bits, for so many different reasons. There is nothing that I would pick out and say “You have to come and see it for that” because you need to come and see it for the whole show. We, as a cast, find the whole production really emotional, so it will be very interesting to see how our audiences react. It’s going to be very special for all of us.
Fame the Musical appears at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells from Monday 20th to Saturday 25th August with nightly performances at 7.30pm and Wednesday and Saturday Matinees at 2.30pm. The production then appears at the Theatre Royal Brighton from Monday 5th to Saturday 10th November with nightly performances at 7.45pm and Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. Full details can be found, and tickets can be purchased, through the venue websites.