Fame

Liverpool Empire

By LUKE TRAYNOR

YOUNG stage starlets were putting on their dancing shoes when the world-renowned Fame academy arrived in Liverpool. Based on the Jose Fernandez and the subsequent smash TV series, budding hopefuls excelled in dance, song and humour and even played instruments as they followed a long and winding road to graduation.

And songs like Dancin' On The Sidewalk, Can't Keep It Down and the instantly recognisable Fame theme certainly had people dancing in the aisles.

Carmen (Yasmin Kadi) starred as she flirted incessantly with the boys and Joe (Ben Heathcote) kept the audience entertained with his never-ending supply of sexual innuendoes and prolonged sniggers.

But the screams were reserved for Tyrone (Chris Copeland) who danced like Michael Flatley and won boundless female sympathy for his portrayal of the poor inner city kid battling prejudice as he reached for the stars.

Humour

This was one of the best productions the Empire has hosted for a long time and the balance between dancing, music and humour was perfectly achieved.

Often endless standing ovations and encores are ill deserved, but this merited all the applause and adulation as the curtain fell. A real triumph.