Home > Current Buzz > FAME is All City Musical in Cleveland
...........................................................................................................

 

CMSD Students Present FAME at PlayhouseSquare 6/4-6

April 29, 2010

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will present its eleventh annual All-City Musical, FAME The Musical to crown the District's 2009-10 series of All-City Arts Programming. The production features the talents of over fifty CMSD students from across the District and will take place on the stage of the Ohio Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, June 4 - 6, 2010. Tony Sias, Director of Arts Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, directs the production. FAME was conceived and developed by David DeSilva. The musical's book was written by Jose Fernandez. The show's music was composed Steve Margoshes with lyrics by Jacques Levy. The title song, Fame, was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore.

The eleventh annual All-City Musical is presented with generous support from The Abington Foundation, The Bruening Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, The Human Fund and Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Eugene T.W. Sanders, CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District stated, "Through the District's All-City Arts Program, we have the unique opportunity to provide students an outlet for expression, while cultivating their creativity. We celebrate the program's meaningfulness, which has enabled us to provide important, standards-based arts education for our students. We are extremely grateful to all of the All-City Arts Program's presenting partners for their support. The value of their support in providing educational opportunities for our students is immeasurable."

The All-City Musical is a rewarding experience for the students involved as well as for the professional artists that collaborate to produce the production, according to Tony Sias, the director of the production for the eighth consecutive year. "The All-City Musical is an extraordinary program that provides students with a structured arts-based experience that refines individual talents, stimulates critical thinking, focuses creativity, strengthens social skills and affords students an informed perspective on the world," said Sias in a recent interview about the upcoming production. "These young people are amazing. As a member of the production team, I find it immensely rewarding to witness the growth and development that these students experience over our intensive All-City Musical rehearsal process. They work diligently, remain focused and emerge from the program with the ability to demonstrate the skill and the discipline that it takes to be an artist in the theater. It is deeply satisfying to be able to share this leg of their journey with them."

Set during the last years of New York City's celebrated High School for the Performing Arts on 46th Street (1980-1984), FAME The Musical is a bittersweet but ultimately inspiring story that chronicles the journey of a diverse group of students as they commit to four years of grueling artistic and academic work. With candor, humor and insight, the show explores the issues that confront many young people today: prejudice, identity, self-worth, literacy, sexuality, substance abuse and perseverance.

The production team for the eleventh annual All-City Musical is a distinguished group of professional artists from across Northeast Ohio. Dr. David Manning Thomas, a music teacher at John Adams High School with a distinguished career in music, will serve as Musical Director for the production. An All-City veteran, Michael Medcalf, founder and Artistic Director of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater, will return to the production team for an eighth season to create FAME The Musical's choreography. Terry J. Martin will design the colorful, multi-location set while Esther Haberlen will design the richly textured costumes for the production. Colleen Dowling will design lights. Longtime GLTF resident sound designer Stan Kozak will create the production's soundscape.

Opening Night for the eleventh annual All-City Musical FAME The Musical is scheduled for Friday, June 4th at 7:30 p.m. The production will continue with a Saturday evening showing on June 5th at 7:30 p.m. and a closing matinee performance on Sunday, June 6th at 3:00 p.m.

All tickets for the eleventh annual All-City Musical, FAME The Musical are $15 and are available by phone at (216) 241-6000, online at www.playhousesquare.org or by visiting the Playhouse Square Ticket Office. All seating is general admission.

FAME The Musical is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019. Phone: 212-541-4684 / Fax: 212-397-4684 / www.MTIShows.com.

< Back