First off...the stage version of this musical is not the same as the original 1980 movie many love except for the setting and theme. It doesn't have any of the songs from the 1980 movie version with the exception of the title song, sang at the end. This appears to be overlooked or misunderstood by some of the other reviewers. This musical stage version more closely follows the updated remake released 20 years after the original.

However...what they do have correct is how amateurish many of the singers and actors are for West End pros. 3 of the male leads seemingly were picked for their looks and not singing or acting ability. One was consistently flat with his over singing and the others over sang and acted. The characters were all caricatures, as it was written, not real people, and the accents problematic. This also makes the show feel very dated.

The musical stage version is not one that is remembered as being memorable to begin with and rides off the coattails of the popularity of the hit movie. This filmed performance from the West End proves that, and will be hard to get through for many musical theater fans like myself.

I'm a big fan of the original movie and was really looking forward to the musical version. What a major disappointment: badly written, terribly acted and appallingly directed. In fact, there is no evidence of any direction whatsoever.

The cast, who are mostly average singers and without exception fairly useless dancers (including the Tyrone character, who's meant to be the equivalent of Leroy Johnson - but Leroy he ain't, sadly) seem to have completely misunderstood their own characters and are just playing flat caricatures rather than real individuals. The irony of the drama teacher's constant mentions of "finding yourself" and "getting in touch with your true emotions" was hard to ignore.

All the way through, it was like watching the first reading of the script, and you keep expecting the director to step in and say "uh, sorry guys but this really isn't working, you've all got to rethink your characterisations completely". Clearly that didn't happen in rehearsal, and the actors were not guided towards a genuine performance. Instead they were allowed to reach the premiere looking and sounding fake, unfunny or just plain annoying.

Some of them are just trying way too hard to get a laugh, with the inevitable consequence that they don't.

And all the couples who are meant to portray adolescent love clearly feel no real connection. Nothing they do and say is believable, memorable or even remotely polished. I've seen amateur productions with more mature performances.

The only diamond in this pile of rubble is Mica Paris playing Miss Sherman, but her superior acting and singing only serves to highlight everyone else's shortcomings.

The worst thing about it is how lacklustre the whole production is: it's dark, dreary and unimpressive, with none of the 80's glitz and glamour that made us all fall in love with Fame in the first place. I understand trying to do something different rather than recreating the film or the TV series, but you've got to at least pay homage to the feeling of the original, because if you use a certain title you'll be attracting certain fans - and you will inevitably disappoint them.

In fairness, Miss Sherman tells the students from the start "if you think you're gonna live forever or start dancing on top of car roofs on 46th street, think again". Well, there was certainly none of that. Unfortunately, nothing else was put in place to deliver that same buzz. And without the buzz, you can't call a show "Fame".

Most songs were really forgettable, and thank goodness they performed the title song at least, but again it only made me miss the original.

Honestly, give this a miss. Instead, watch the film again, remember how good it was and why it will live forever - unlike this dross.

I love musicals, and I really liked the original movie, but this is a train wreck. I keep reading this production got rave reviews but honestly I cannot see how. It probably reads better live, but honestly the actors are playing caricatures of the characters and they are not grounded in reality. They are all stereotypes and playing just for the jokes. Now, to top it off proshot of it it's terrible. A lot of bad close ups, audio issues and terrible editing made a painful viewing experience for a musical. You miss the big musical numbers in favor of a close of an actor who is out of frame half of the time. It's just a big miss, like the 2009 remake of the movie.