Culture
Wars

80

• The .WOrld
Accoring Yitz

Unchained
Melody

.96

"I iii gonna live Jo' rever; I'ni
gonna learn how to fly; Iin
gonna make it to heaven,.
Baby, remember my names

Father Of `Fame '

David De Silva, creator of the hit film and
TV series "Fame," brings a new stage version to Music Hall.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News

ame — The Musical may appear to
be about young people running
after show business dreams, but its
ultimate message involves the stay-
ing power of education.
So says the play's creator, David De Silva,
who credits his Jewish background with the
emphasis on learning in the hit film, TV series
and now touring production, which is coming
to the Music Hall April 27-May 2.
"The respect for education is very impor-

ri

tant as part of the Jewish energy in the show,"
says De Silva, 59, who turned his life over to
Fame once his concept got off the ground. "I
was not brought up in a religious way, but I
was brought up with a love for learning and
think that love drives this whole musical."
Set in the 1980s, Fame focuses on the aspi-
rations of a group of students attending New
York's High School of Performing Arts (now
Fiorello La Guardia High School of Music
and Art and Performing Arts). The musical
chronicles their four-year odyssey from audiL
tion to graduation at the school with an
unofficial motto: "Fame costs, and this is

where you start paying."
The mix of strongly motivated students —
rich and poor, black and white, Christian and
Jewish — was planned to give the story its
passion and dramatic tension.
"Our composers [Steve Margoshes and
Jacques Levy] are Jewish so they naturally would
want to write about Jewish characters," says De
Silva, who is negotiating to have the play .per-
formed in Israel in addition to the 16 countries
that already have welcomed it. "When you talk
about New York City and its ethnic mix, obvi-
ously the Jewish population is very strong. "
FATHER on page 89

4/23

1999

Detroit Jewish News

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