Kids from Fame

Fame was a relatively low budget musical from 1980 directed by Alan Parker and written by Christopher Gore, following a group of students and their teachers and their exploits and adventures at the New York High School of Performing Arts. The film starred Albert Hague as Mr Shorofsky (the music teacher), Jim Farrell (drama), Anna Meara (English) and Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant the main dance teacher and focal point of most of the auditions along with students Doris Finsecker (Maureen Teefy), Ralph Garcie (formally known as Raul Garcia until he tried to disguise his Puerto Rican roots) played by Barry Miller, Coco Hernandez (Irene Cara), Leroy Johnson (Gene Anthony Ray), Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri) and Montgomery MacNeil (Paul McCrane). Despite the film's success in the US winning an academy award for the best song, the title track sung by Irene Cara as the character Coco Hernandez, it was not well received in the UK, the film only moderately successful and the soundtrack not even able to hit the top 20. However, right at the start of 1982, a new weekly television series began, based on the original film and called The Kids From Fame which again, followed the adventures and personal lives of the same group of teachers and students all attempting to become famous with a grounding at the stage school. Still written by Christopher Gore, all of the main characters were involved and many of the original actors and actresses also retained to provide some continuity with their roles, Debbie Allen continuing to play the part of Lydia Grant, the dance teacher who introduced the show each week summing up what the school was all about with the line "Fame costs, and right here is where you start paying - in sweat", Albert Hague as the crusty European music teacher Benjamin...