FAME FOREVER – Talent Springs Eternal

Father Fame to Visit Circle Players’ Production of

“FAME FOREVER – Talent Springs Eternal”

July 21 – 24, 2011 at MTSU

FAME creator David De Silva will visit Tennessee to witness his newest musical brought to life on stage by Circle Players. “FAME FOREVER – Talent Springs Eternal,” is scheduled to run July 21 – 24, 2011, at the newly renovated Tucker Theatre on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

The production is a regional premier that was specifically requested by De Silva after he learned of Circle Players’ success in producing large musicals and its history as a community theatre company.

When Circle Players mounted the stage production of the popular movie and TV series FAME in the summer of 2009, the show was a big hit. The musical about a group of aspiring teenage artists at a competitive performing arts school in New York in the early 1980’s resonated with Nashville area audiences and was performed in front of sell-out crowds.

The sequel to FAME was in the works at that time-- conceived and developed by De Silva with music by Steve Margoshes and book and lyrics by Ben H. Winter. De Silva wanted Circle and director Tim Larson to present “FAME FOREVER - Talent Springs Eternal” even though another two years would pass before it became a reality. Along with Larson, the show will be produced by LaTonya Turner, with choreography by Kate Adams-Johnson and music direction by Ginger Newman.

De Silva was willing to wait for Circle Players to take on his show, and he has high praise for Middle Tennessee’s oldest community theatre company.

“I think Circle Players is one of the best amateur theatre groups in the country, because of its talent, the age range of everyone involved, because of the ethnic diversity, the quality of people and their commitment on all levels of a production.”

FAME FOREVER is the story of the original musical’s characters, now all grown, and their children, who are now students at New York’s famed LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, whose alumni are, among others, actor Al Pacino, Broadway performer Ben Vereen and actress Vanessa Williams.

David De Silva said his script is loosely based on the 1935 novella Forever by Mildred Cram. He liked the story’s idea of a creative spirit that never dies and can be reborn without a memory. In “FAME FOREVER – Talent Springs Eternal,” Carmen, a troubled drug addict who dropped out of school and died
of an overdose, gets a chance to see how her life influenced the lives of her classmates as they gather for their 20th high school reunion.

“I love the idea that life goes on, that nothing dies, everything just comes back in another form. After all, it’s a big theme in science,” De Silva said.

Compared to the original FAME, De Silva said, the sequel is much wiser, now that the characters have grown and changed. However, despite the changes and time passing, he thinks that what comes through in the story is that the big issues such as life and death are timeless.

De Silva said he is happy that Steve Margoshes, the composer of the original FAME, got involved in the sequel.

“The music is quite romantic, that’s the style of Steve Margoshes, and I am very romantic and emotional myself. There is such passion in his music. To me, there is no better composer around.”

Since the big success of FAME, David De Silva has created the Father Fame Foundation, an organization with the mission to interactively promote theatre arts in education and in life, a mission, that he said matches perfectly with Circle Players, which is producing the show in an educational partnership with Middle Tennessee State University.

“It’s very important to me that young people get to participate in the creative process, they need to get involved in every aspect of it.” De Silva said that to him, it’s not about encouraging anyone to make a living in the arts.

“ I just believe that exposure to the arts will help you become a better human being, no matter what you do in life.”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

David De Silva on YouTube discussing the Nashville production of FAME FOREVER (Length 1’44’’)


On the work of the Father Fame Foundation
http://www.famenetwork.com/