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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2004)
Ifi Entertainment The Battalion Page 5 • Tuesday, March 9, 2004 More than 15 minutes of‘Fame’ MSC OPAS to host showings of award winning musical Fame ‘MusicaCs Fame - The Musical By Sarah Szuminski THE BATTALION As the adage says, everyone is entitled to 15 minutes of fame at some point in their lives, but members of the Texas A&M com munity can get more than two hours worth Tuesday and Wednesday evening at “FAME - The Musical.” Based on the original 1980 Academy Award-winning film, the musical chronicles the four-year journey of a group of students at a New York City performing arts high school as they strive to achieve stardom. Anne Black, executive direc tor for MSC OPAS, said the decision to bring “Fame” to A&M for the first time was based largely on the musical’s high survey rankings among college students. “(‘Fame’) appeals to stu dents because it’s about young people (who are) pursuing their dreams,” Black said. The high-intensity show fea tures a broad range of musical styles, including pop, rap, top 40 and gospel. Dance numbers range from solos to group num bers, as performers act out the stories of the highs and lows while pursuing fame. Cast member Kiira Schmidt, a 23-year-old musical theatre graduate of Elon University, plays the ballet dancer Iris, who is admitted to the school as a late applicant and ends up in a romance with fellow student Tyrone. Schmidt described the ener gy onstage as “high-octane” and “super intense.” “There is a pretty wide range of songs to go along with the wide range of characters,” Shmidt said. “The group numbers are huge, fun, fast dance numbers.” Schmidt, who said she’s been a dancer ever since she could walk, joined the cast of “Fame' in August as an ensemble mem ber. She stepped into the role of Iris in early March after the orig inal performer suffered a broken foot. Although performing seven oreight shows a week can sometimes be exhausting, Schmidt said her job is a dream come true. "Once the lights come up onstage, I realize there’s nowhere elsel’d rather be," she said. “There is never a dull moment; it’s pretty intense." Schmidt said the two acts are entertaining to audiences in dif Photo Courtesy of • MSC OPAS Kiira Shmidt (center), who plays the young aspiring ballerina Iris, completes a dance set in the Broadway musical "Fame." The production is brought to Texas A&M by The Memorial Student Center OPAS, and will hit the Rudder Auditorium stage Wed. and Tues. night. ferent ways. In the first act, audience members will be impressed by the production itself, while in the second, they will start to fall in love with the characters. “In the second act, the characters start to mature, and the sto ries become a little deeper; the stakes are raised,” she said. Senior journalism major Deborah Morales said she and her roommate rented the movie “Fame” over the weekend in antici pation of seeing the musical this week. Morales said the finale brings back memories of dancing in high school, when her dance team performed to the musical’s theme song in its spring show. “I wanted to see the musical because 1 have danced all my life,” she said. “(My roommate) loves musicals, and I am more into the dance stuff.” Tickets are still available for both showings, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., and can be purchased through the MSC box office. “Fame” has been touring nationwide and in Canada since September and is set to finish during the summer. TICKETS on sale now SOUL GRAVY MEET CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED TOMORROW CROSS CANAD|AH R AGWEED Aoss igi| Noon at Hastings, 2004 Texas Avenue South, College Station. Get their new CD Soul Gravy with FREE concert DVD autographed. Limited edition DVD (footage shot right here in College Station) available now. ©2004 Universal-south Records, llc / www.crosscanadianragweed.com / www.universal-south.com CROSS CANADIAN £ [jfA RAGWEED Saturday, March 13, ij ®I#I 7:30pm 4 |f ^ KELLY CLARKSON Wednesday, March 17, 7:30pm KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND Friday, March 19, 7:30pm DJANGO AND JERRY JEFF WALKER Thursday, March 25, 7:30pm Visit RodeoAustin.com for a full listing of concerts and events. Tickets for all shows are on sale now while they last. TUAS F AI R & March 13-27,2004 RODEO Austin, Texas Hold on lor ttie Hide. Travis County Expo Center For more information, and to order tickets, call 512-477-6060, visit any participating HEB store, or visit RodeoAustin.com. SOUTHWEST m invent