'Fame' completes the rain of musicals on the autumn billboard

Rain of musicals on the autumn billboard. The stars have aligned to bring to the Barcelona stages four flagship shows that have generated much anticipation and are already selling tickets at a very good pace. Àngel Llàcer and Manu Guix defy the weather with the staging of Singin' in the Rain, which premieres on September 15 at the Tívoli; the Victoria Theater surrenders to the dream of a young dancer with Billy Elliot starting October 9; that same day, the musical comedy T'estimo si he begut, written by Empar Moliner, kicks off at the Teatre Poliorama; and Coco Comín is the artistic director of Fame. The Musical, which arrives at the Apolo Theater on October 19.

Barcelona is once again betting on musicals, a genre that had its heyday a few years ago in the Catalan capital, when the Barcelona Teatre Musical was even inaugurated in what had been the Palacio de los Deportes on Guardia Urbana street. Jorge Arqué, one of the producers of Fame, who has also managed the Apolo Theater in Barcelona for a year, is involved in this adventure. "These are uncertain times but we hope that by mid-October the capacity of theaters will be expanded to eighty percent occupancy," trusts Arqué, who, along with three other producers, is launching a machinery of one million two hundred thousand euros.

"We have been very careful with the investment, we are four investors who manage our own funds. I was also a producer of Fame in 2004, with a total of 11,175 performances and which lasted until 2009 thanks to a very extensive tour throughout Spain. In that show, Coco Comín was choreographer and co-artistic director. It was a total success." The harmony between Coco Comín and Arqué is palpable in the presentation to the press. Coco comments that it is not normal for a producer to spend eight hours a day with the artistic team and Arqué replies that he spends many hours with them because he gets emotional with the rehearsals and believes that the production has to be part of the team: "We have fantastic raw material. There are twenty-seven people on stage but in total ninety people are involved," he comments.

Arqué is a musician and television producer. "Fame tells the story of a performing arts school in New York, and although it is set in the eighties, I believe it is a timeless and universal production that has invited many young people to dream of fame." As a producer, he must think about the target audience. "It's for all ages, but older people are still afraid to go to theaters because they are enclosed spaces and the pandemic is still ongoing...", he points out.

They have one week of rehearsals left at the Teatro Apolo, previews begin on October 8, and the official premiere will be on October 19. "The show is in Spanish because afterwards we are going to Madrid, to the Teatro Albéniz, located behind the Puerta del Sol," he announces.

Half a century of life for Coco Comín's school

For Coco Comín, Fame is the musical of musicals, along with West Side Story and Grease. "Throughout the 21st century, a tsunami of musical productions has been created, but I am clear that Fame is one of the greats." She also knows that producers invest out of vocation, because it is very difficult to make money with this format.

The prestigious Coco Comín academy celebrates half a century of life with the same energy with which it started. Her teaching facet makes her empathize one hundred percent with this musical: "Fame costs, and this is where you're going to start paying. With sweat." This is the phrase Miss Lidya Grant repeated in the series. "The audience will enjoy being a student again ---adds Comín---. The music is live, but there is a recorded part, the brass section. And the soundtrack will be recorded in Teddy Bautista's studios in Madrid," she explains.

A thousand applications

All productions begin with a casting call. "We received a thousand applications ---Comín applauds---. Now we have a team made up of very special and very humble artists, among whom there are sixteen Catalans and the rest from Córdoba, Murcia, Valencia, Argentina, Italy, the Philippines, and Cuba. The first thing we look for is talent."

The artistic director does not tire of giving information about this great project: "They have asked me for it to last two hours because due to Covid measures, no intermissions can be taken during the show. There is pop, rock, gospel, rap, and the song Fame is within the disco genre. The youngest of the entire cast is Diane Jacob, of Filipino nationality, who plays Serena Katz and is twenty years old." Finally, she introduces Betty Akna, Miss Sherman on stage, who plays the same role as Coco in her academy.