A TALENTED duo of musical theatre students from Abergele and Rhyl are set to perform alongside the cast of iconic 80s TV series Fame.
Following a series of auditions, in which students competed for a coveted place in two special charity concerts of The Fame UK Reunion, judges selected Liverpool Media Academy students Nicole Bowden and Tina Hawley, both 21, to star with eight of the hit show’s actors and actresses at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool in May.
Miss Bowden and Miss Hawley will join 13 of their fellow students for the show as backing dancers and backing vocalists with original cast members – Erica Gimpel, Valerie Landsburg, Lee Curreri, Carlo Imperato, P R Paul, Cynthia Gibb, Nia Peeples and Jesse Borrego take to the stage in the UK together for the first time in 35 years.
Miss Bowden, a former pupil of Rhyl High, said: "I'd seen the more modern remake a few times and found inspirational because it's about what i want to do, but since I got the part I've gone back and really gotten stuck into the TV show.
"This show is so challenging physically, because it's so outgoing and requires so much energy, but if it's what you know you want to do, you have to fight and work really hard for it.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet though, so I'm still quite nervous and very excited at the same time."
The Fame television series ran from 1982 to 1987, with several cast members forming The Kids from Fame group.
Their self-titled album spent a total of 12 weeks at the top of the UK charts in the summer of 1982 and spawned two hit singles, Hi Fidelity and Starmaker.
This latest iteration of the show will raise funds for Claire House Children’s Hospice, with Miss Bowden and Miss Hawley - as well as Buckley class mate Antonia Livingstone - currently busy rehearsing before they meet the original cast members over Easter.
Miss Hawley, a former pupil of Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan, said; "The audition was so positive, and now I'm looking froward to meeting the cast - it'll give us a lot more context on the role because they're from the original, they're the real.
"I am a little bit nervous though, it's my first professional job outside of uni and I've never really met anyone famous before but I'm more excited than anything."
The Fame UK Reunion concerts take place from Sunday, May 5 on Monday 6.
Tickets start at £18.90 available from mandsbankarena.com and fameukreunion.co.uk.
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