Fame

This is a wonderfully simple idea that succeeds very well indeed: take a bunch of kids from New York's High School of Performing Arts and let them strut their stuff. A lot of music, a few desultory plotlines, and you've got the contemporary version of the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Hey kids, let's put on a show!" vehicle. FAME shows us how much life there still is in moribund genres like the musical.

It focuses on five episodes--set during auditions and successive academic years through to graduation--featuring various struggling young hopefuls, among them Coco (Irene Cara), a gifted, determined singer; Montgomery (Paul McCrane), a sensitive, gay actor; Leroy (...