[NEohioPAL] CMSD Students Present "FAME" at PlayhouseSquare As 11th Annual All-City Musical

[Todd Krispinsky]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2010

Cleveland Metropolitan School District Students
Present FAME The Musical
As Eleventh Annual All-City Musical

Producing partners include Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Human Fund,

The Music Settlement, The Musical Theater Project and PlayhouseSquare.

CLEVELAND, OH - The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will
present its eleventh annual All-City Musical, FAME The Musical to crown
the District's 2009-10 series of All-City Arts Programming.  The
production features the talents of over fifty CMSD students from across
the District and will take place on the stage of the Ohio Theatre at
PlayhouseSquare, June 4 - 6, 2010.  Tony Sias, Director of Arts
Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, directs the
production.  FAME was conceived and developed by David DeSilva.  The
musical's book was written by Jose Fernandez.  The show's music was
composed Steve Margoshes with lyrics by Jacques Levy.  The title song,
Fame, was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore.

The eleventh annual All-City Musical is presented with generous support
from The Abington Foundation, The Bruening Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts and
Culture, The Human Fund and Kaiser Permanente.  Dr. Eugene T.W. Sanders,
CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District stated, "Through the
District's All-City Arts Program, we have the unique opportunity to
provide students an outlet for expression, while cultivating their
creativity.  We celebrate the program's meaningfulness, which has
enabled us to provide important, standards-based arts education for our
students.  We are extremely grateful to all of the All-City Arts
Program's presenting partners for their support.  The value of their
support in providing educational opportunities for our students is
immeasurable."

The All-City Musical is a rewarding experience for the students involved
as well as for the professional artists that collaborate to produce the
production, according to Tony Sias, the director of the production for
the eighth consecutive year.  "The All-City Musical is an extraordinary
program that provides students with a structured arts-based experience
that refines individual talents, stimulates critical thinking, focuses
creativity, strengthens social skills and affords students an informed
perspective on the world," said Sias in a recent interview about the
upcoming production.  "These young people are amazing.  As a member of
the production team, I find it immensely rewarding to witness the growth
and development that these students experience over our intensive
All-City Musical rehearsal process.  They work diligently, remain
focused and emerge from the program with the ability to demonstrate the
skill and the discipline that it takes to be an artist in the theater.
It is deeply satisfying to be able to share this leg of their journey
with them."

Set during the last years of New York City's celebrated High School for
the Performing Arts on 46th Street (1980-1984), FAME The Musical is a
bittersweet but ultimately inspiring story that chronicles the journey
of a diverse group of students as they commit to four years of grueling
artistic and academic work. With candor, humor and insight, the show
explores the issues that confront many young people today: prejudice,
identity, self-worth, literacy, sexuality, substance abuse and
perseverance.

The production team for the eleventh annual All-City Musical is a
distinguished group of professional artists from across Northeast Ohio.
Dr. David Manning Thomas, a music teacher at John Adams High School with
a distinguished career in music, will serve as Musical Director for the
production.  An All-City veteran, Michael Medcalf, founder and Artistic
Director of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater, will return to the
production team for an eighth season to create FAME The Musical's
choreography.  Terry J. Martin will design the colorful, multi-location
set while Esther Haberlen will design the richly textured costumes for
the production.  Colleen Dowling will design lights.  Longtime GLTF
resident sound designer Stan Kozak will create the production's
soundscape.

Opening Night for the eleventh annual All-City Musical FAME The Musical
is scheduled for Friday, June 4th at 7:30 p.m.  The production will
continue with a Saturday evening showing on June 5th at 7:30 p.m. and a
closing matinee performance on Sunday, June 6th at 3:00 p.m. 

All tickets for the eleventh annual All-City Musical, FAME The Musical
are $15 and are available by phone at (216) 241-6000, online at
www.playhousesquare.org or by visiting the Playhouse Square Ticket
Office.  All seating is general admission.

FAME The Musical is presented through special arrangement with Music
Theatre International (MTI).  All authorized performance materials are
also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019.  Phone:
212-541-4684 / Fax: 212-397-4684 / www.MTIShows.com.

The primary goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to
become a premier school district in the United States of America.

#  #  #

Media Contact:
Todd Krispinsky
Marketing and Public Relations Director
Great Lakes Theater Festival
1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300
Cleveland, Ohio  44115
(216) 241-5490 x317 / (216) 241-6315 Fax
www.greatlakestheater.org <http://www.greatlakestheater.org/> 

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