FATHER from page 77
The Jewish characters include Mr.
Sheinkopf, the music teacher who rep-
resents a European tradition; Serena
Katz, an aspiring actress from
Brooklyn; and Schlomo Metzenbaum,
a violin student who carries the soul of
the production.
Actual Jewish stars who graduated
from the New York school, which
opened in 1936 and moved to a nine-
story building in 1984, include singer-
actor Hal Linden, the late puppeteer
Shari Lewis and legendary choreogra-
pher Jerome Robbins. The school each
year provides 2,400 students with
lessons in drama, dance, voice and
instrumental music and houses a
1,100-seat concert hall and a 500-seat
theater.
"The play recognizes the movie,
which came out in 1980, but there are
new characters," says De Silva, a
native New Yorker who studied to
become a high school teacher but
instead went on to work as an actor,
agent and assistant to the late produc-
er-director Otto Preminger. "I like
characters who are following their
dreams, and I think magnet schools
are important because they bring tal-
ented students to special schools
where they have a chance to excel."
The stage version was developed in
not-for-profit theaters in Miami and
Philadelphia, but the real break came
when Music Theatre International
published it. As a result, the China
Theatre in Stockholm put on a mil-
lion-dollar production and had a
record-breaking run of two seasons.
"What came across the footlights
was music, dance, energy and pas-
sion," says De Silva, who then fol-
lowed the production to other coun-
tries. "It was unbelievable to me to
not understand a word and yet be
caught up in the power and the pas-
sion of the young talent involved."
De Silva, a consulting producer of
in its second year in Poland with
Polish kids doing it, and Spanish kids
are doing it in Buenos Aires.
Australian kids open in July, and it's
become a huge cult thing in Britain.
"It's amazing how many kids are
attracted to the arts, and it's nice to
see that. When Fame first came out,
Above left: "Fame - The Musical" features a cast of 25. Right: A 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.
The Detroit cast of Fame will offer a master class to
performing arts students throughout Detroit and sub-
urbs. The Wayne County Regional Educational
Service Agency (RESA) will broadcast a one-hour ses-
sion, 10-11 a.m. Thursday, April 29, over closed cir-
cuit television to school districts in the tri-county area
It is expected that 60,000 students — some in atten-
dance in RESA's studio— will see the Distance
Learning Program. Performing Fame songs as exam-
ples, cast members will demonstrate the ways songs
become both a personal expression of character and a
vehicle for moving along the plot.
the early '80s TV series, uses his travel
to promote art studies and the estab-
lishment of performing arts schools.
"The Swedish press gave me the
handle of "Father Fame" because I cre-
ated Fame, and I get to see a grassroots
global expression that celebrates
American musical theater," explains
De Silva, who will be going to see a
South African production in May. "It's
"Father Fame"
David De Silva:
"Unless kids are
educated in the
arts, they don't
learn about the
spirit of things."
all of a sudden 10,000 kids wanted to
audition for the New York school.
When they did the show in London
for the first time, kids started lining
up at 6 a.m. to audition, and there
were 5,000 on the first day." •
While De Silva hopes that teen-
agers aspiring to performing arts
careers brace themselves for other
opportunities in the many cases where
they are not successful, he also envi-
sions more jobs using the skills neces-
sary for the stage. The rise in the
number of performing arts schools,
including a new facility for the one in
Detroit and the Liverpool School for
the Performing Arts founded by for-
mer Beatle Paul McCartney, will help
train people for what he terms the
communications revolution."
Ground was broken for Detroit's
new facility, the High School for the
Fine and Performing Arts, last
Wednesday on land adjacent to
Orchestra Hall and donated by the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The
$35-million dollar facility will be paid
for with proceeds from a $1.5-billion
school bond measure. An 800-seat
auditorium, a 200-seat music hall,
acoustically correct practice rooms and
rehearsal space are planned for the
school.
"Unless kids are educated in the
arts, they don't learn about the spirit of
things," De Silva says. "I'd like Fame to
be an introduction to the theater for
young people, and my dream is to do a
production in New York every summer
with 100 kids from the schools to ben-
efit arts in education." 7
Fame — The Musical will be
performed 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-
Thursday, April 27-29; 8 p.m.
Friday, April 30; 2 and.8 p.m.
Saturday, May 1; and 1 and 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 2, at the Music Hall
in Detroit. $25-$50. (248) 11.
4/23
1999
Detroit Jewish News
89