Fame: Footlights are going to live for ever

FAME costs, and this is where you start paying' - famous words spoken by Debbie Allen as dance teacher Lydia Grant in TV series, Fame, based on Alan Parker's hit movie of the same name.

Edinburgh University Footlights in Fame: The Musical

Hopefully the price won’t be too high for the members of the Edinburgh University Footlights taking up the challenge of the stage version at the Church Hill Theatre this week.

Founded in 1989, Edinburgh University Footlights is a student-run musical theatre group aiming to annually present the largest-scale production of the university’s theatrical calendar.

Footlights has gone from strength the strength recently, here at the Evening News we even dubbed them “one of the most respected theatre groups in Britain”.

Now, following the success of last year’s production of Urinetown the Footlights return in Fame: The Musical.

For anyone who doesn’t already know (where have you been?), Fame follows a group of ambitious students as they attempt to navigate life at the illustrious High School of Performing Arts in 1980s New York.

It tells the story of the students of the final class to graduate the school as they struggle with their journey into adulthood.

As they battle with tempestuous relationships, ambition, their own self-confidence and fame itself as they pursue their dreams, will any of them make it and see their name in lights?

The original film, partly inspired by the musical A Chorus Line, received several awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards for Best Original Song (Fame) and Best Original Score and spawned a TV series, the stage musical and a remake in 2009.

Fame, Church Hill Theatre, Morningside Road, Tuesday-Saturday, 7.30pm (2.30pm matinee), £13.50, on the door