Episode 12 School for Stars

Many people dream of fame, success and life in the spotlight.

But few realise it takes years of hard work.

We've been behind the scenes

of one of the most famous stage schools in Britain.

-Motivation, commitment. Let's do it.

-It's got to be sharp, guys!

We've seen the highs and the lows.

The good times...

You have got the role of a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz.

..and the bad.

As the talent of tomorrow juggle school and work...

I'm at the Horrid Henry premiere.

..with preparing for the performance of a lifetime.

And now it's showtime...

..at the School For Stars.

Coming up on School For Stars...

..the opening night of the centenary shows finally arrives.

I want you to perform like you've never performed before.

-But Jade's dress run doesn't go to plan.

-I was like,

"Why is everything blue?"

After months of practicing, is it all over for Max?

My voice is really hurting.

And Mary's nerves threaten to ruin her big moment.

I don't know what's going to happen now, whereas...

Oh, I don't know, I'm just scared.

At the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in central London,

where students are taught to sing, dance and act

to a professional standard, the summer term is almost over.

For months and months, auditions have taken place across the school

to decide the leading roles for the end of year centenary shows.

The shows will run for six nights and culminate in a huge gala.

Top choreographers have been brought in to teach complicated routines.

The show director has been flown in from Los Angeles

to make sure that only the best will do.

We've done the most awful rehearsal we ever could have done.

And hundreds of hours have been spent perfecting routines.

And now, at last, it's the week of the gala

and the opening night is almost here.

Classes are finally over,

and all 305 pupils are about to head to Wimbledon in south London

to the theatre that will become home during gala week.

But before that, Bev, the student welfare officer,

has a mountain of lost property that she needs to deal with.

This is fresh from the floor!

Once they leave and go into rehearsals in Wimbledon

we won't see them again.

This'll all come back

because they'll leave it all at Wimbledon Theatre.

I'll be seeing it again in September, I expect.

You haven't disappeared, my helper, have you?

Bev's emptied her cupboards out

and called down Ella and any other cast members she can find

before they go to rehearsals.

I just don't see how they can walk out of a tap class

without their tap shoes.

Check it for names.

-Alice who?

-Um, I don't know.

Jade Hayden? We have Jane Hayden, but she'd be about 47 now.

This is Mia's.

THEY ALL LAUGH

Dressing up over, the job here is done,

but for those already down at the theatre,

costumes are the least of their worries.

Come on, quick, quick, quick, quick!

This is the New Wimbledon Theatre,

one of the biggest theatres in London,

where finally, in just a few hours' time,

the curtain will rise on the opening night.

At the stage door, a steady stream of excited people

have been arriving all day.

The cast are all here, but before the final run-through,

Hailey, the show director,

and Karen, head of musical production,

have gathered everyone together for a final pep talk.

It's a tense moment for Layton, Mary, Ella

and the rest of the cast as they all try to settle their nerves.

I want you to really, really, really

perform like you've never performed before,

and I want your mum and dads to be like,

"I never knew my child could do that."

You have worked so hard.

You just need to energise, energise,

support each other and get out there and do what you're good at.

OK, deal?

-ALL: Deal.

-Gorgeous!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The atmosphere, everyone's kind of like got a buzz going around.

And everyone's really excited.

As their big moment draws closer,

Jade and Reece are about to rehearse their routine

for the very first time in the theatre.

I'm quite nervous today, cos we're running on the actual stage,

so hopefully it goes smoothly.

Everyone's feeling a little bit sick and nervous.

It's like a coke can, when you shake it up, it'll explode.

That's what everyone's all like.

Reece started out rehearsing this number

with Jade's friend Rhianna months ago.

But Jade was asked to replace Rhianna in the lead role,

which means she's had to learn a lot of new moves at the last minute.

That went absolutely awful. I've never danced so bad in my life.

Jade's feeling the pressure now.

Has she really had enough time to master the new routine?

The last rehearsal I didn't think went that great,

but hopefully this one will go much better.

Reece and Jade are called down to the front of the stage.

But before they go on, Hailey asks them to watch the seniors,

who are performing the same routine on the closing night.

It's getting a bit scary.

If it's this scary at rehearsals, what's it going to be like tonight?

Watching someone else perform their routine is pretty nerve-racking,

and Jade and Reece are beginning to dread going up next.

I'm really worried. Wow!

-All right, guys. Erm...

-Are we doing...?

Juniors, up you come, please.

I'm quite nervous now, obviously,

cos we're doing it now on the actual stage.

Yeah, waiting's definitely the worst bit.

It's time for Reece and Jade

to run the routine on stage for the very first time

and show the seniors what they can do.

MUSIC STARTS

Classmates Fifi and Callum are just as keen to prove to everyone

what Year Nine are capable of.

APPLAUSE

It's a good reaction from everyone, except the choreographer,

who isn't happy with Reece's ending.

-Reece, you need to give Jade a kiss on the cheek.

-OK.

At the end of it, I've got to give her a peck on the cheek

and a hug cos we're just holding hands,

so they said just to do something better.

So that's our last rehearsal done now,

so all we have to do now is wait.

I think the nerves made me perform better,

cos I wanted to give it more.

-Well done, Reece.

-Thank you.

It's really scary, but I'm really excited.

Reece and Jade may have a kiss to worry about,

but Fifi's concerns for now are about her make-up.

Fifi has been in trouble for wearing too much make-up at school.

Too much make-up. What did I say to you?

So now she's finally allowed to wear it for the show.

How's she feeling?

I don't feel good about myself right now,

because everyone is more tanned than me,

cos there's an 8 and a 10 and a 12,

I got the 12 which is the darkest,

but cos I put Dove on before that it didn't come out that well,

so everyone is more tanned than me, and that's never happened before.

I'm not exactly pale, but just...

Fifi, you're hardly pale compared to me.

Yeah, but compared to other people except from you

I look really pale.

Backstage in make-up, each student is stressing about their own thing.

For Mary, she's desperate to show her friends and family

what she can do.

Tonight my mum, dad, sister, auntie, nan, grandad,

a few friends and then my boyfriend's mum and dad and his sister

and my boyfriend, quite a few.

I want to show them what I can do and just be amazing.

Mary is one of the best singers in the school

but she hasn't had an easy time during rehearsals.

She has to open a Christina Aguilera routine all by herself,

and end it with one long powerful note.

# Yee-ee-aa-aah! #

The problem is the rehearsals at school haven't gone to plan.

Just dire. The most awful rehearsal we possibly ever could have done.

Mary is hoping that, once she is on stage,

she'll be able to overcome her confidence problems.

Mary's friend Alex has no issues at all with confidence

but he does have a challenge to overcome.

And he only has hours left to do it.

Alex is playing the lead role in the Green Day routine, American Idiot.

But to get the part as well as singing and dancing,

he had to play the guitar.

The only problem was he didn't know how to play it.

Ow!

If I slip up, I look silly and I'll be public enemy number one.

Once we get on stage the thing to focus on is the click.

This is an opportunity to show that I am not just a dancer.

Even now during final rehearsals, Alex could be replaced

if Nathan the musical director doesn't think he's good enough.

Despite his efforts, the timing still isn't right

but Nathan is prepared to take a risk on him,

trusting him to deliver when it counts.

Is that wrong? Sounds horrible.

-It'll be one up, won't it?

-I finished running through my song.

It could have gone a lot better.

I wasn't expecting it to be the best.

I'm tired, been singing all day.

Alex is running out of time to practice.

Could his guitar playing ruin the whole routine

in front of a packed theatre?

Alex isn't the only one feeling nervous about his performance.

Max needs to find Rhianna.

With only moments before they're due on stage to perform the Sinatra song

Let's Fall In Love, Max has problems.

Max has been rehearsing the number for months with his girlfriend Jade.

But at the last minute,

the show director replaced Jade with her best friend Rhianna,

who only knew the part as an understudy.

# Why shouldn't we?

# Let's fall in love

# Let's fall in love. #

Rhianna's relieved and happy

that she's getting to perform on the big night.

I'm feeling all the changes these past couple of months.

It's really good cos I have all my family

and I've got a lead and everything, so it's good.

This is probably the biggest audience ever,

but I've just got to take all the nerves and just put it behind me.

Rhianna sounds more than ready but Max isn't so sure.

My voice is really hurting.

I'm really worried what's going to happen.

So sorry if I mess up but...

That's all right. Don't worry about it.

Backstage, the heat is rising as the cast have just minutes

to settle their nerves before it's showtime.

MUSIC: "We Found Love" by Rihanna feat Calvin Harris

Layton is calming down before he changes for his first performance.

My mum and nan have come down from Manchester so that's really nice.

I'm going to give them a lovely performance so it was worthwhile.

This night is absolutely massive because I've taken over from Rhianna.

I haven't had that much time and then it's the 100 years centenary week

so you're a bit like, "Oh, no!"

As if Jade didn't have enough to think about,

today's final rehearsal brought up some unexpected technical problems.

This blue curtain fell down on me and I was like "Why is everything blue?"

I was a bit confused and I was like, "Should I move?"

When we did the dress run today, it didn't go very well

and all of a sudden, a bad throat's come on and now I'm very nervous.

I don't know what's going to happen now, whereas...

Oh, I don't know. I'm just scared.

The cast may be feeling the fear but nothing more can be done.

No more rehearsals, no more practice.

Time has run out.

In the theatre, over 1,000 people have taken their places.

With seconds to go before the curtain rises,

backstage, the atmosphere is electric.

And now, after all these months of hard work, it's showtime!

MUSIC BEGINS

Come, every member of our clan.

Living, dead and undecided.

Let us celebrate what it is to be an Addams!

Line dance!

In this spectacular Addams Family routine, Layton is a triple threat

as he showcases his dancing, acting and singing skills.

# When you're an Addams the standard answers don't apply

# When you're an Addams you do what Addams do or... #

HE GROANS

# Die! #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

With the show in full flow,

backstage, Max and Rhianna have been called to the stage.

After all the weeks of last-minute changes,

the time's finally come for them to prove they're a winning combination.

It should be good, I guess, if we nail it.

Which we will.

Here we go.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Max and Rhianna will be singing

and classmates Ed and Sydney will be dancing.

# I'm have a feeling, it's a feeling

# I'm concealing

# I don't know why

# It's just a mental, incidental, sentimental alibi

# Now we might have been meant for each other

# To be or not to be

# Let our hearts discover

BOTH: # Let's fall in love

# Why shouldn't we fall in love?

# Now is the time for it while we are young

# Let's fall in love

# Let's fall in love

# Let's fall in love. #

You'd never guess Rhianna had so little time to prepare,

and it sounds like Max's voice has survived.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-I think it was brilliant.

-It was good. I

-loved it.

I think my voice held out during it and I think it went really well.

For Max and Rhianna it's time to relax,

but for Alex it's nearly time to face the music.

Alex has had to learn the guitar from scratch for his role

but even in final rehearsals he couldn't get the timing right.

I'm feeling focused, man.

I just want to go out and smash it.

I think they're hungry.

I think they want a good show, so it's my job to give it to them.

All right, this is me, man. Wish me luck. See you in a bit.

MUSIC: "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" by Green Day

# I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known

# Don't know where it goes

# But it's home to me and I walk alone... #

As the backing track kicks in, Alex looks like a natural.

# My shallow heart's the only thing... #

And because he's in time, so are the dancers on stage with him.

# Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me

# Till then I walk alone... #

With the guitar solo over,

Alex can put everything into the rest of the routine.

# Welcome to a new kind of tension

# All across the idiot nation

# Where everything isn't meant to be OK

# Television dreams of tomorrow

# We're not the ones who are meant to follow

# Or that's enough to argue. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We're buzzing. That was lovely. After every number they were like...

Alex has gone down a storm. Layton is hoping for the same reaction.

He's already performed the Addams Family routine, but now he has

the most gruelling solo performance of the night to showcase.

In the build-up to the end-of-year show,

this was the number that Layton found the most challenging.

That's probably one of the hardest rehearsals

that I've ever done here.

But looking at this performance,

Layton's frustrations seems a very long time ago.

Layton's solo routine has wowed the audience,

and there's just time for a quick change before he joins

some of the other juniors in the Michael Jackson medley.

Jade and Amber were gutted when choreographer Sean cut them

from the Thriller routine for the gala.

But later on, he chose them

for the opening night performance of Bad instead.

So as well as her In The Heights solo later on, Jade now has

a smaller role dancing alongside Reece,

and Amber has her very own move.

In the Michael Jackson medley, I do a backflip in Bad.

It's almost time for her big moment,

and Jade and Reece help raise the atmosphere to fever pitch.

And here comes Amber.

It's a move the king of pop would have been proud of himself.

The medley moves on to another MJ number,

and Layton puts the smooth into Smooth Criminal.

# You've been hit by a smooth criminal. #

After a knock-out performance from Layton and Amber,

it's time for Mary to be called to the stage.

The number starts with Mary singing a Christina Aguilera song

all by herself.

# Sweet love, sweet love Trapped in your love

# I've opened up

# Unsure I can trust

# I've found a man I can trust

# And boy, I believe in us

# I am terrified to love... #

You'd never guess from the performance that Mary

used to freeze in the spotlight.

# I'm bound to you. #

APPLAUSE

Solo over, it's time for her second challenge.

Now she's joined by a chorus line of her classmates as they perform

a routine about being a showgirl.

-# Hey

-Hey

-# Say yeah, yeah

-Yeah, yeah... #

And here comes the big end note.

# Yeah

# Yeeeeaaah! #

And it's spot on.

It went amazing. I think it's the best I've ever done it.

I started really nervous, right? So I just, like, relaxed.

And then when I hit the note, all of my friends just started cheering

and I just felt this feeling in me and I just got all excited.

It was so good.

As the performances continue on stage,

backstage, the nerves are kicking in for Jade and Reece.

The Michael Jackson routine went well for Jade, but next it's time

for her lead role - dancing opposite Reece in the number, In The Heights.

With so little time to learn the moves, will Jade let herself down?

I'm really nervous for tonight, cos obviously you can't predict -

well, you can - but you can't know exactly what's going to happen

until the show.

The main thing Reece is worried about

is impressing his number one fan.

It's such a big deal tonight, cos obviously my mum's watching

and I just want to make her proud and everything

and I've got quite a good part, so I don't want to waste it.

Fifi will be on stage with Jade and Reece, too,

and she's counting down

to her moment in the spotlight in front of over 1,000 people.

The theatre's packed out tonight.

I think it'll be the biggest crowd I've ever performed to,

cos the theatre is actually massive.

So, the time has come.

Months and months of hard work come down to this moment.

I'm really nervous now. My hands are shaking and everything.

I've got butterflies in my belly and my head's just really...worried.

I just can't explain it.

With Callum, Fifi and Estelle already in full flow with

the In The Heights routine, Jade and Reece take the stage by storm.

Jade's hard work has paid off.

Who would think that just a month ago,

Jade said she delivered the worst performance of her life?

She's nailed it. Every move is perfect.

Reece's dancing is also on top form.

But he's still got his fight sequence.

And he's punching like a Hollywood stuntman.

And here comes Fifi.

Finally, mums look away now, cos it's time for the kiss.

And with their routine over, it's time to take a bow.

When we walked on to do our kiss, you were like this.

I was like, "Should we come apart? I don't know what to do!"

INAUDIBLE

Like, for, like, ten seconds. I was like, "Can we go now?"

The kiss went absolutely terrible.

It was the most awkward kiss I've ever done in my entire life!

I was like, "Mmm," then I went away and the music kept going

so I went in again and the music was like...

Everyone was probably like, "What are they doing?!"

I must have gone bright red, cos my mum was watching, obviously.

And what does Fifi think of her big dance solo?

I think it went good, but I can't really remember it.

It was a bit like a dream. I can't really remember anything.

But from what I can remember, it went well, yeah.

It felt so amazing. It was like... I feel upset that it's over.

I feel happy that I've done a good job.

Right now, I'm feeling ecstatic.

The adrenaline's pumping everywhere.

I'm so happy and it's so exciting.

You don't know what to do with yourself.

The show ends with a huge finale, giving every single student

one final chance to enjoy their moment in the spotlight.

For Alex, Jade, Reece, Fifi, Callum, Estelle, Georgia, Ed

and the rest of the cast, it's smiles all round.

The opening night of the centenary shows is finally over.

Tomorrow, there'll be another cast and another show,

but as the curtain drops and the audience begin to leave,

tonight's students can at long last celebrate.

It's time to find out what friends and family thought of the show.

He just amazes me every time I go

and see him and he actually brought a tear to my eye this time.

He was really, really good. Really good.

I thought that my son was absolutely amazing.

-My nan wants to get in on it now.

-No, I just wanted to cry. I did cry.

I just thought he's absolutely brilliant.

From being a little boy,

who'd have known he'd be growing up to be able to do this?

Thank you.

I love you.

Next time on School For Stars...

it's the biggest night in the school's history

as gala night finally arrives.

Ella, Ed and Jordan show the seniors at the gala

what the juniors can do.

Can Eloise and Will sort out their mistakes before the curtain rises?

It just is like a huge, huge train wreck.

And will Mark be able to turn his cast around to deliver

the show that Pixie Lott and an audience of agents are waiting for?

Boom, pah. Boom-boom, ah-ah. Oh. Yes!

It's all part of life at the School For Stars.

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