Fame (musical) - Productions Around The World

Productions Around The World

The musical has had productions in nearly 25 countries, such as Ireland, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, Italy, Finland, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

In January 1993, a large-scale production of the musical made its European debut in Stockholm, Sweden, running for four years. The show came to the attention of choreographer-director Runar Borge, who has subsequently staged the show in numerous productions worldwide.

The West End production was nominated for three Laurence Olivier Awards. The UK productions have had a total box office gross of £56 million through 2006. Since 1995, the musical has had seven separate West End runs, including a long run at the Aldwych Theatre from 2002 to 2006, the Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, the Shaftesbury Theatre, Victoria Palace, and a number of UK national and international tours. Well-known cast members in various productions have included Miguel Ayesa as Schlomo, Noel Sullivan as Serena, and Barbara Dickson as Miss Sherman.}

An Italian production opened in Pavia, at Teatro Fraschini, directed by Gigi Saccomandi and Luigi Perego on September 20, 2003. A new version of the musical opened in Pavia directed by Bruno Fornasari on June 23, 2004, and toured Italy until March 2006.

A Spanish production in Catalan ran at Teatro Tivoli in Barcelona from April 27, 2004 to September 26, 2004, directed by Ramon Ribalta. It reopened in Madrid in Spanish at Teatro Calderon February 1, 2006, and toured Spain until January 11, 2009.

The Estonian production opened in Tallinn in November 2006 to a good critical acclaim. The Estonian cast contained Nele-Liis Vaiksoo as Serena, Rolf Roosalu as Schlomo and Kaire Vilgats as Miss Esther Sherman.

A Portuguese production was created in 2005 with Portuguese dialogue and the original English musics. In 2008 the musical was brought back with some famous Portuguese names in the cast, like Patrícia Candoso as Serena and Fernando Fernandes as Schlomo.

In 2006, contestants from various seasons of the popular Puerto Rican telelvision singing contest "Objetivo Fama" did a Spanish language production of the musical, entitled "Fama - El Musical" in the Centro de Bellas Artes in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was a three-night only engagement and was met with positive reviews by the press and fans alike.

An Italian production directed by Marco Daverio opened in Milan in December 2006 and toured through February 2007. It reopened on February 2, 2008 in Savona and toured through the end of the month.

The musical opened on May 4, 2007, for a summer production at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End. The show is directed by Karen Bruce, and the cast includes Ian Watkins as Schlomo, Natalie Casey as Serena, Fem Belling as Mabel, and Jacqui Dubois as Miss Sherman.

In 2007, A Dutch talent search competition called De Weg Naar Fame auditioned a large number of people in order to give four winners the chance to play Schlomo, Serena, Mabel, and Tyrone in the 2008 Dutch Tour of Fame. The show gave the finalists dance, vocal and acting training, and the three finalists for each character performed a piece from the musical in front of a panel of judges who made the final decision. The Dutch version includes Hein Gerrits as Schlomo, Kim-Lian van der Meij as Carmen, William Spaay as Joe, Doris Baaten as Miss Sherman, and Daphne Flint as Serena. Jim Bakkum understudied Schlomo.

On April 4, 2008 Fame opened in Paris at the Teatre Comedia.

A new UK touring production started in January 2009.

Auditions are currently underway for the Australian Revival Tour in Australia, which is planned to open in Melbourne in April 2010, then travel to Sydney and Brisbane. The show is to be choreographed by "So You Think You Can Dance"’s Kelley Abbey.

The show is currently touring Italy and Sicily for 2009/10. This version will include Benjamin Newsome as 'Schlomo Metzenbaum'.

The show had its first Irish tour starting in the Grand Canal Theatre Dublin from 19 August 2010 to 12 September 2010. The characters of Nick and Serena were played by Ben Morris and Jessica Cervi winners of RTÉ's Fame: The Musical reality TV show. Other cast members included: Sheila Ferguson, Lisa Gorgin, Brittany Woodrow, Taofique Folarin, James Gibbs, Charlotte Watts, Yemie Sonuga, Fra Fee, Hollie Taylor, Tara Young, Chris Jeffers, Aaron Parker, Hannah Wilson, Jaye Elster, Sarah Wilkie and Nicholas Collier. The show was directed by Brian Flynn and choreographed by Gary Lloyd, who has previously worked on the hit show Thriller – Live. The tour ended in Wexford Opera House on 14th November 2010.

The show had a brief run at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London, between the 18th and the 20th of August, 2011, with a cast of youths from the Hammersmith and Fulham community.

In September 2011, "Fame The Musical" is currently showing at M Theatre in Bangkok Thailand, with the casts who come from True Academy Fantasia (AF) and KPN Awards. This version includes Nat Sakdatorn as 'Nick Piazza'. "Fame The Musical" in Thai version produced by Dreambox.

From 25 November 2011 to 29 January 2012 the musical played Woori Financial Art Hall, Seoul South Korea, starring Eunhyuk of Super Junior, Tiffany of Girls' Generation, Son Ho Young, Go Eun Seong, Kim Chan Ho, Shin Ui Jeong, Lina of The Grace, Choi Ju Ri, KoN and Kim Jung Mo of TRAX.

On May 5, 2012 in Orebro, Sweden, FAME The Musical opened in Orebro, Sweden at the Tyst Theatr with a World Swedish Sign Language Premiere Production,"Visukal" for the Hearing Impaired | FAME VISUKALEN

Fame O Musical (in Portuguese) opened in São Paulo, Brazil 5/21/12 at Teatro Frei Caneca produced jointly by the Ministry of Culture and 4Act Productions under the general coordination of Ricardo Marques. It was directed by Billy Johnstone with choreography by Guto Muniz and musical direction by Paulo Nogueira. Assisting the director was Gustavo Torres and the vocal coach was Rafael Villar.

The creator of Fame hitherto hesitated to grant permissions for uploading to Greece. The production company «Live 2» but won his confidence and so by December 12 will premiere in the "Theater" of the Cultural Centre "Hellenic Cosmos" with a unique cast