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<P><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<BR>April 29,
2010</STRONG><BR><BR><STRONG><FONT size=5>Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Students<BR>Present <EM>FAME The Musical<BR></EM>As Eleventh Annual All-City
Musical</FONT></STRONG><BR><BR><FONT size=3><STRONG><EM>Producing partners
include Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Human Fund,
<BR></EM></STRONG></FONT></FONT><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT
size=3><STRONG><EM>The Music Settlement, The Musical Theater Project and
PlayhouseSquare.</EM></STRONG></FONT><BR><BR><STRONG>CLEVELAND, OH – The
Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will present its eleventh annual
All-City Musical, <EM>FAME The Musical</EM></STRONG> to crown the
District’s 2009-10 series of All-City Arts Programming. The production
features the talents of <STRONG>over fifty CMSD students from across the
District</STRONG> and will take place on the stage of the <STRONG>Ohio Theatre
at PlayhouseSquare, June 4 - 6, 2010</STRONG>. <STRONG>Tony Sias, Director
of Arts Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, directs the
production</STRONG>. <EM>FAME</EM> 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, <EM>Fame</EM>, was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael
Gore.<BR><BR><STRONG>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. </STRONG> 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.”<BR><BR><STRONG>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.</STRONG> “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.”<BR><BR>Set during the last years of New York
City's celebrated High School for the Performing Arts on 46th Street
(1980-1984), <STRONG><EM>FAME The Musical</EM> 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</STRONG>. 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.<BR><BR><STRONG>The production team for the eleventh
annual All-City Musical is a distinguished group of professional artists from
across Northeast Ohio</STRONG>. <STRONG>Dr. David Manning Thomas</STRONG>,
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,
<STRONG>Michael Medcalf</STRONG>, founder and Artistic Director of Cleveland
Contemporary Dance Theater, will return to the production team for an eighth
season to create <EM>FAME The Musical’s</EM> choreography. <STRONG>Terry
J. Martin</STRONG> will design the colorful, multi-location set while
<STRONG>Esther Haberlen</STRONG> will design the richly textured costumes for
the production. <STRONG>Colleen Dowling</STRONG> will design lights.
Longtime GLTF resident sound designer <STRONG>Stan Kozak</STRONG> will create
the production’s soundscape.<BR><BR><STRONG>Opening Night</STRONG> for the
eleventh annual All-City Musical <EM>FAME The Musical</EM> is scheduled for
<STRONG>Friday, June 4th at 7:30 p.m.</STRONG> The production will
continue with a <STRONG>Saturday</STRONG> evening showing on <STRONG>June 5th at
7:30 p.m</STRONG>. and a closing matinee performance on <STRONG>Sunday, June 6th
at 3:00 p.m</STRONG>. <BR><BR><STRONG>All tickets for the eleventh annual
All-City Musical, <EM>FAME The Musical</EM> are $15</STRONG> and are available
by phone at <STRONG>(216) 241-6000</STRONG>, online at
<STRONG>www.playhousesquare.org</STRONG> or by visiting the Playhouse Square
Ticket Office. <STRONG>All seating is general
admission</STRONG>.<BR><BR><EM>FAME The Musical</EM> 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.<BR><BR>The primary goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School
District is to become a premier school district in the United States of
America.<BR><BR># # #<BR><BR><STRONG><U>Media
Contact:</U></STRONG><BR></FONT></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Todd Krispinsky<BR>Marketing and
Public Relations Director<BR>Great Lakes Theater Festival<BR><?xml:namespace
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/><ns0:Street><ns0:address><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
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w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite
300</st1:Street><BR></ns0:address></st1:address></ns0:Street><ns0:place><ns0:City><st1:City
w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:City></ns0:City>, <ns0:State><st1:State
w:st="on">Ohio</st1:State></ns0:State> <ns0:PostalCode><st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">44115</st1:PostalCode><BR></ns0:PostalCode></ns0:place>(216) 241-5490
x317 / (216) 241-6315 Fax<BR><A href="http://www.greatlakestheater.org/"><SPAN
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