The musical Fame is to have its Dutch language premiere on Oct. 3 at the Schouwburg in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The musical will then tour 52 theatres in The Netherlands and Belgium until June 2000.
Fame, which was conceived by David De Silva, with music by Steve Margoshes, lyrics by Jacques Levy and a book by Jose Fernandez, began in 1980 as a movie musical about students at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts. It won two Academy Awards (including one for the title song) and in 1982 became a television series, running for six years. The television series has since been seen in almost 70 countries and resulted also in a spin-off series, “Fame L.A.”
The stage musical was developed in not-for-profit theatres in Miami and Philadelphia and premiered at Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1988, but has never been presented on Broadway. To date there have been 15 different productions of the musical which have toured through Mexico, Japan, Argentina and the most of Europe, including a London West End production. A production is currently on tour through North America, which is directed and choreographed by Lars Bethke.
The Dutch production of Fame is translated and directed by Koen van Dijk, for whom this is his directorial debut. Koen van Dijk is better known for his lyrics for the musicals Joe (Amsterdam, 1997) and Cyrano, which also played on Broadway and for which he received two Tony Award nominations.
The choreography is by Rick Atwell, who himself danced in Broadway productions like Georgy, Selling of the President and The Rothschilds. His choreography credits include Street Heat in the USA and, in The Netherlands, Ik Jan Cremer, Zeldzaam and Move. Jan Aarntzen is responsible for costume design, Eric van der Palen has designed the sets, Marc Heinz is the lighting designer and Jeroen ten Brinke is responsible for the sound design. The cast of the musical consists of six musicians and 24 actors, including Nurlaila Karim, Smadar Monsinos, Jim de Groot, Joanne Westmaas, Tom Van den Broeck and Betty Vermeulen. Fame is produced by Holland’s largest legit theatre producer Joop van den Ende Theaterproducties. -- By Maxim Bezembinder
Dutch Correspondent
