The Faculty: Fame Remake Adds Teachers

Bebe Neuwirth, better looking than your average teacher. 

The thoroughly unwelcome (in my opinion) remake of Fame has now added some grown-up teacher types to its lineup of shiny happy Mousketeerish kid cast (in short, one of my many objections is that a remake is bound to be done in the Prozac’d out cheery style of the HSM franchise, rather than in the spirit of the gritty, hard original).

Variety reports that the following will be teaching the kids at the fictional performing arts h.s.: Megan Mullally, a real life graduate of the School of American Ballet, who is best known as a singer and comedienne, will play a voice instructor; Kelsey Grammar, a real life student at the Juilliard school of drama, who we know has some serious musical chops, will play an “orchestra maestro”; Charles S. Dutton, a real life graduate of the Yale School of Drama, who is best known as, well, an actor, will play a drama teacher; Bebe Neuwirth, a triple threat Tony Award winner with a body any woman of any age would kill for, will play a dance instructor; Debbie Allen, a, um, graduate of the original Fame will play the school’s principal.

Kevin Tancharoen directs the film, which is set to begin production this week.

Nice group of teachers, with lots of people I like, and if they were giving a seminar on any of the performing arts, I would gladly attend. However, I just think this movie is going to be an insult to the original–not like the original is a masterpiece, but it had a feel and a commitment to real life (okay, outside of the musical numbers) that I don’t think this will have. Of course, Mr. Tancharoen, I welcome you to prove me woefully wrong.