From February 12-15, MMC performed Fame The Musical at The Theatre at St. Jean’s. The director of Fame, Tera-Lee Polin, describes the cast as “talented and willing”.
Fame is based on the 1980 film of the same name, set in a real school called Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School. The musical follows the life of students, as they try to make their way through an arts school. The students endure an immense amount of pressure, which led to feelings of inadequacies and turning to drugs. But the students also experience love and acceptance, finding a home within each other.
The lighting design in Fame heavily impacted the tone of the musical. The actors performed on a black stage, with a projector behind them that would change colors as the show went on. Fame’s lighting designer, Michelle Torres, had a specific way of deciding what colors belonged to certain scenes.
“I wanted to have the classes feel completely different but also have their colors represent how it might feel to be in that class,” Torres said. “The dance class was very bright white and [had] cool tones to resemble a dance studio under the fluorescent light…The acting class has a more dramatic light purple and blue look that gave a feeling of magic and the band class has warm orange, red and brassy colors, which always remind me of an Instrumental concert.”
Senior Nyela Brown performed as Miss Sherman. She describes Fame as “a wonderful experience from beginning to end.”
“Being one of the only seniors in the class and playing a teacher, I found myself feeling so maternal about the rest of the cast…[but] despite being older than so many of them I found myself learning a lot from them each and every single day. Ajaie Ellis’ commitment and willingness to go big, Sophie Cote’s daring energy and Valentina Marino’s beautiful ability to adjust to notes to name a few,” Brown said.
A month later, from March 12-15, MMC presented the musical Bright Star in the Theresa Lang Theatre. The musical is inspired by a true story, and explores the joys of first love, the dreams that push us to where we are supposed to be and the miracles of life.
The set immersed the audience into the characters’ world, with grass and a picketed fence in the back, the band sitting atop a haystack, and the fairy lights that stretch from the stage into the audience. The set played a huge part in transforming the audience into the world of Bright Star.
The show was very well received by the audience. Freshman Janie Vitovich stated that she “loved all the dancing and the choreography.”
“I liked how it was both funny and also emotional at the same time,” Freshman Alexis Kennedy said
“The ensemble was so talented,” Freshman Jule Rohana added. “I also think the technical team did a fantastic job with the set and the lighting and the effects. [It] was so cool.”
Bright Star was very well received by the audience–leaving them excited and impressed.
“I thought it was really cool that they had the musicians on stage,” Freshman Zoe Ogana stated. “Alice was super incredible. Like that was actually insane. [And] when they took the baby from her, like, my heart dropped. And then she kept crying offstage.”
