Fame The Musical, Kings Theatre, Southsea, REVIEW: 'The group numbers are full of energy'

Set at New York’s Performing Arts School, the audience are instantly immersed in the anxious and pressurised environment through song and dance. The production comes to life thanks to the stage design, which acts ironically as a wall of fame with head shots of the students lit up.

Mica Paris, as Miss Sherman, instructs the students of the unforgiving trade they are about to enter and blows the audience away with her incredible vocals.

With each character having their own personal dramas to contend with, the three that stand out to me are Jamal Kane Crawford as Tyrone, Stephanie Rojas as Carmen and Hayley Johnston as Mabel. Crawford excels as an athletic dancer while Rojas perfectly portrays the decline in her character due to drug abuse.

Johnston’s vocals are underrated and I would have loved to hear her perform more than one solo song. However the casting for her seems unfair as she is called ‘the world’s fattest dancer’ when in reality she is no bigger than any other girls on stage. But this is no fault of her own and she still performs her character to the full.

The group numbers are full of energy and it’s not long before the audience are standing on their feet and dancing with them.

Until Saturday.