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(Posted 7:30 a.m., May 11)
Young
talent shines in OYP musical production of 'Fame'
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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 Members
of the Orleans Young Players senior musical
class wrapped up their season on the weekend
with a wonderful production of the 70's musical
'Fame'. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The
Orleans Young Players senior musical class put their best
feet forward on Saturday along with their amazing voices
in an abridged version of of the hugely popular 70s musical
"Fame".
For
those of you who are unfamiliar with the television series
or the movie "Fame", the play tells the story
of a diverse group of talented young students enrolled
in the New York High School of Performing Arts.
The
storyline is split into five parts: the auditions, freshman
year, sophomore year, junior year and senior year. In
the full length play the divisions between each chapter
are clearly drawn.
In
the shortened OYP version, the divisions are far less
clear unless you pay attention to a few subtle cues. Not
that it matters. The appeal of the OYP production is the
performances of the talented cast.
Each
cast member is given a chancce to shine through a series
of solo performances and duets, My personal favourite
was Michelle Gendron's performance of "Let's Play
A Love Scene" as Serena Katz.
Other
notable preformances included: "I Want To Make Music"
sung by Adrian Soble as Nick Piazza; Kristen Leboef and
Zach Gray's duet "Bring On Tomorrow" as Carmen
Diaz and Schlomo Metzenbaum; and Sydney Smith's solo "Mabel's
Prayer" as Mabel Washington.
The
company performances were superb as well especially in
the closing number "Hard Work/Fame".
As
for the characters my favourite was Mr. Sheinkopf played
by Kaitlyn Poupore in one of wildest wigs I've ever seen.
I also loved Julia Murphy's performance as Tyrone Jackson,
a talented dancer from a poor background who turns out
to be dyslexic.
The
rest of the cast included Sarah Tomaszewski as Miss Sherman;
Julia Elliott as Iris Kelly; Emilie Daigneault as Goodman
King; Julia Murphy as Tyrone Jackson; Alexus White as
Grace Lamb; and Katrina Parsche as Ms. Greta Bell under
the direction of veteran OYP teacher Will Sommers.
The
best way to measure the success of production of musical
from a bygone era is whether or not the audience is motivated
enough by the performance to want to rush out and rent
a copy of the original or spend a couple of hours searching
"Fame" references on You Tube. I ended up doing
both, so congratulations to this year's senior musical
class for a job well done.
(This
story was made possible thanks to their generous support
of our local business partners.)
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