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But the fast-paced show based on the 1980 feature film and followup TV series delivers where it counts. A high-spirited cast of 20 flew through a dozen or so song-and-dance numbers in a tight, two-hour production at Pantages Playhouse Theatre on opening night Tuesday.
Following students of the New York City High School for the Performing Arts from their first day of classes in 1980 to graduation four years later, the show focuses on a handful of kids -- musician Schlomo Metzenbaum (The Wave's Jeremy Kozielec) and his tomboy drummer Lamb Chop (Laura Kolisnyk); earnest actor Nick Piazza (Jon Tsouras), who may or may not be gay, much to love interest Serena Katz's (Alison Stenekes) chagrin; hard-knock dancer Tyrone Jackson (Derek Wiens) and Latina hottie Carmen Diaz (Stephanie Sousa) who belts the title number, Oscar-winning song Fame, in a first-act showstopper and in a sensational curtain-call reprise.
The show has more than its share of cliches and racial stereotypes. A Hispanic student can't get his chops around Romeo because Shakespeare's Latin lover is not a Puerto Rican street kid, and of three black characters, one is an illiterate break-dancer and another says things like, "Lord have mercy!" Presumably, that's the vision of New York-based creator David De Silva.
On the plus side, actors Sousa, Wiens and Stenekes are standouts in a solid cast. A compact, dynamic stage show, Fame is directed and choreographed by Brian Foley, helming his 11th Rainbow Stage production.
Tickets cost $24.50 - $39.50 at Select-A-Seat (780-7328). (More: Theatre Reviews).