Episode 7 School for Stars

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

but few realise it takes years of hard work.

# We are not what you think we are

# We are golden. #

We're going 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.

..where pupils learn to cope with rivalry,

sacrifice and rejection every day.

# Don't give it up when you're young and you want some. #

Russell Brand, Pixie Lott and Leona Lewis all studied here,

but this series is about the talent of tomorrow.

This is the School For Stars.

Coming up...

Rhianna and Jade fall apart...

You need to move on, OK? Cos this isn't good.

That was awful. Never danced so bad in my life.

..as their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

I'm in the middle and I don't know what to do.

Fiona's last day of school brings joy...

Whoo! WHOO!

..and tears.

The school's most experienced students

go head-to-head for a dream job.

You're now in competition with every one of the people in the room.

It's the summer term at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

# Because we are

# Your friends

# You'll never be alone again... #

As well as all the normal lessons,

everyone is busy preparing for the end-of-term gala.

# Come on!

And one and two and three and four and...

Rhianna is one of the lucky few to have a lead role in the gala.

She's playing Vanessa in a routine called In The Heights,

a fast-paced, all-singing, all-dancing Latin number.

Rhianna had to audition against her best friend, Jade, to keep the role.

The decision is that we're going to stick with Rhianna,

-and you'll be understudy.

-OK.

But last night, Rhianna missed an important rehearsal,

and today she's arrived to find out some bad news.

Her part has been given away to best friend Jade.

Last night, apparently, there was a rehearsal,

which I had no idea about.

In this school, rehearsals are as important as lessons

and, for missing one,

Rhianna has been demoted to the role of Jade's understudy,

so she'll only play the part if Jade is ill on the night.

This role meant everything to me.

And now just to be told, "You haven't got it," is a real shame.

I am happy to get that role, I'm really happy. But it's just...

It's just... It's the guilt.

I'm in the middle and I don't know what to do.

It's hard to stay friends when you're in competition.

Today, Rhianna and Jade are sat at opposite ends of the canteen,

and Jade takes the opportunity to confide in her friend Estelle.

Rhianna's really upset.

I was like, "What's wrong?" And she's like, "It's FINE!

"I'm your understudy now." I went, "For what?" "For Vanessa."

No, Jade's doing my part now.

Because I...

I missed rehearsals which I didn't even know about, so...

But why do you feel bad?

Because I feel bad for her. And then she was like, um...

-"You know how much this means to me."

-How much does it mean to you?

But I feel terrible, I feel horrible.

Jade decides to take her plate over and sit with Rhianna.

I'm gutted, really,

because I would've rather have been told that I wasn't in it

when I had the audition in front of Hayley and Simon.

'Me and Jade are fine. I just...

I don't want her to, like, get all funny with me.

I hope she doesn't.

'We're really good friends and I don't want this to come between us.'

Jade now has just a few days to learn all the dance moves

in time for a dress rehearsal at the end of the week,

when she'll have to perform the whole routine, in costume,

to the show's director.

Taking the role over from Rhianna, I'm feeling the pressure now.

# There's a fire starting in my heart... #

The clock is ticking, so Jade's been given the afternoon off

to train with fellow lead dancer Reece.

It's a lot different now, cos obviously

they're two different people and two different characters.

So while Rhianna works on her French,

Jade and Reece are working on their footwork.

Since I've been doing the part for such a long time,

it's really easy for me to know it, but the pressure's really on Jade.

Latin dance is demanding.

This routine features over 300 different moves

and Jade needs to learn all of them.

It has to be good, it has to be perfect.

# We could have had it all

# You're gonna wish you

# Never had met me

# Rolling in the deep... #

Inside leg and outside leg.

SHE YELPS Like that.

I'm feeling so sorry for you.

Where Rhianna was doing it, I have to be just as good at that.

But just... I have less time!

The show's in three weeks, and she's got to learn everything and then...

I'm scared. I'll be able to do it, I know I will.

You have to just keep breathing, cos if I get, like, all worked up,

I could crumble.

So can Jade learn all the dance steps

and stay best friends with Rhianna?

It's going to be a tough week.

Fiona's also got a stressful week ahead of her.

It's her final week of GCSE exams,

and once it's done, she'll be leaving the school forever.

My GCSEs are really important to me.

They're important to everyone, but I want to do my A levels,

so I need to get as many as I can get to do my A levels next year.

Fiona has been at the school for four years,

but has decided she wants to leave and study at a London college.

But the college will only accept her

if she gets good grades in her exams.

I'm very nervous.

SHE SIGHS

Fiona's exams have been going well, but she still has two left -

GCSE science at the end of the week,

but first it's GCSE dance.

The exam is a few minutes away

and Fiona is running her routine one last time.

So this dance is me alone in a room for a minute and a half.

It's based on a feature of the natural world, which is a whirlpool.

I start off with really slow motions and gradually build it up,

like a whirlpool does.

I end up running round the room in a big circle.

Obviously dancing, not running.

I've been preparing this dance for about six months now,

so the past six months is all coming down to today.

Practice over,

Fiona's moments away from being called into the exam room.

'I hate waiting.

'I'm a really impatient person,

'so I can't sit somewhere and wait for something.

'I prefer just to get it over and done with.'

There's a little gap that I can just see through,

so I can see the examiner from here.

'My mind's kind of blank, which is kind of worrying.'

She's been practising this routine for months, and now it's time.

How will her whirlpool dance go down with the examiner?

Fiona's got to dance for a minute and a half.

She won't get the results for at least a couple of months,

but right now, Fiona knows whether she's danced well or not.

Yeah!

-How did it go, then?

-So well!

-Did it?

-I'm so out of breath!

I feel really bubbly and...

a lot better than when I went in.

GCSE dance is out of the way,

but Fiona still has one last exam - GCSE science -

and she desperately needs it to go well if she's going to stand

any chance of getting into the college she wants.

The school encourages every pupil to achieve success,

both in and out of class,

and Reece is well on his way

to making a career as a professional performer.

I've always loved to dance, no matter if it was at a party or in my room.

Reece has his lead in the gala with Jade,

and he's had professional success, too,

playing young Simba in the West End production of The Lion King.

We decided to make a collage of Lion King.

And that's me in the middle, but it don't really look like me,

cos obviously I'm wearing a wig and all face paint and stuff.

It gave me a lot of experience in the business,

because obviously that was my first real job.

But even with all his experience, Reece stills feels the pressure.

This week, with Rhianna being dropped,

he's worried about the dress rehearsal.

Hi, Mum.

I can always talk to my mum. She's always there.

I'm upset for Rhianna because we were doing it from day one together.

-You're piggy-in-the-middle.

-Yeah.

My mum's the greatest mum in the world and we're always close.

Focus on yourself. Make sure you do the best job you possibly can.

-You be Reece and it'll be fine.

-OK.

Hopefully one day I'll be famous and rich and I can spoil her rotten.

It's Reece and Jade's big day.

With three weeks until the gala,

show director Hayley Newton and assistant director Carl De Schomp

want to see run-throughs of all the big numbers.

It's the morning of the first junior run-through

and it's absolutely crazy around here.

There's hair being done,

there's costumes being sewn into people.

Very exciting. The pressure is definitely on for the kids right now.

Jade and Reece are nervously waiting for their run-through.

The pair have only had a few days to work on their Latin dance routine

after Jade took over the lead role from Rhianna.

It is stressful because we've got to run the whole show

and do the finale and do it with costumes

and Jade hardly knows any of it.

Jade's not just worried about the dance,

she's worried about her best friend.

It's mixed emotions.

I'm excited, but every time I walk past her

it makes me feel even worse.

Rhianna is now the understudy.

Today, she has to watch as Jade prepares for the part

that was hers until a few days ago.

-Rhianna, what's the poses for the der, der?

-What's the girls' poses?

It's... One...

Rhianna's doing her best to stay strong,

but now she's seen the dress she would have been wearing,

it's all become a bit much for the Year 9 pupil.

RHIANNA SOBS

-I'm fine.

-Are you sure?

I know it's hard for you, but this is only one part.

There are going to be hundreds more to come.

You've got to keep your head strong.

# I told you to be patient and I told you to be fine... #

I feel awful because Rhianna's crying her eyes out

and I'm sitting here having my hair done.

# ..I'll be with you, but it'll be a different kind

# Cos I'll be holding all the tickets

# And you'll be holding all the fines. #

When I saw Rhianna break down in tears,

it made me feel a bit upset cos Rhianna's one of my closest friends.

I could feel how she feels.

Can you just come and make another straight line in front of me.

It's time for the dress rehearsal.

The whole cast, including a tearful Rhianna, are called into the studio.

Karen, the head of musical theatre, is quick to spot she's upset.

What's happened to this person who's suddenly crumbled?

You've lost the lead, you're understudy. If Jade's ill, you're on.

If you're like this, I need to know now.

If you're not capable of being understudy,

I need to find another one.

It's gone. You need to move on.

This isn't good. This is not good.

This isn't the Rhianna I know and I don't know why this has happened

because the Rhianna I know is so professional and so focused.

You are a very talented young lady, get focused and get over there.

Although it's going to be tough, Rhianna has to accept

she's the understudy and must watch as her best friend takes

centre stage in front of gala director Hayley Newton.

OK, Jade, you start in the centre.

Jade and Reece now have to focus on the dress run.

They've only had a few days to rehearse, but the time's come

for them to prove to Hayley, the school's senior staff,

and everyone in their year that they can dance together.

The routine starts well and Jade and Reece are dancing confidently,

but things are about to take a turn for the worse.

Jade heads off stage when she's meant to be in the centre.

From that point, Jade's routine falls apart.

She's out of time with the other dancers...

..gets her cues wrong again.

Callum has to point her in the right direction.

All Rhianna can do it watch as her best friend struggles

to make it to the end of the routine.

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

It could have gone better

because there was a bit where she forgot where she was

and she went to come off stage with me and then ran quickly back.

If that's how it's going to be on the show,

they need Rhianna to do it.

For Jade and Rhianna, things can't get much worse.

They both know something needs to change.

Every year students spend at this school,

more and more is expected from them.

The older they get, the tougher the dance routines and auditions get.

For Essex boy Mitch, his day is about to get extremely tough.

Mitch is a senior, and, along with all of his classmates,

he's about to embark on his hardest audition yet.

Thank you for coming along today.

A cruise-ship company has come to look for dancers and singers

to perform on their luxury fleet.

It's a dream job, and if Mitch gets it

he'll be sailing around the world for eight months.

We look after all of the onboard production shows

for the entire fleet, so that's seven ships at the moment.

It'll be great to graduate

and go straight into a cruise, working for eight months

and getting paid.

Mitch has never landed a big role in his life

and he's always struggled with nerves at major auditions.

He's hoping he can hold it together.

I think I'm getting less nervous the more and more I'm doing it.

When I first started doing auditions, I was shaking,

but now I've got to get out of that mind frame of being nervous.

Got to try your best.

His best better be good

because travelling the world performing on a ship

is not just Mitch's dream job, every senior here wants the same.

This is a real audition, we have real jobs to give away.

You're now in competition with all the people in the room.

It would be amazing to get this job

cos you're travelling and doing what you love.

You get to travel and see the world. You get a nice tan as well.

It's tough cos there's some good girls in there

so we'll just see.

As the audition heats up,

the judges start to split the dancers into smaller groups.

They may be friends off the dancefloor,

but on, it's every student for themselves.

The judges only need a handful of performers, so Mitch can't mess up.

Joe, if you could go stage right. And Mitchell.

Mitch is called to the floor. Can he hold his nerve?

-It's over, but how did Mitch do?

-The dance was full-on.

It was quite technical, but it was a good dance as well.

They never give the game away.

Mitch is happy with his performance,

but he's got to wait until the singers' audition

to find out how he's done.

# The name on everybody's lips is going to be Roxy... #

# I was an impossible case, no-one ever could reach me... #

For Danielle, who's in her final year,

this would be the perfect first job after leaving school.

I'd love a career in showbusiness.

'What I love to do most is singing and acting combined together.

'I love the ability to connect to an audience.'

When you get the cheering and applause at the end of the show,

it just...makes you so happy.

You've done your job. And, erm...that's what I love.

I'm about to audition in that room.

Well, it's fine, and then my nerves just get to me. But I'm OK.

It's when I set foot into that room. We'll see how it goes.

And I've got a bit of hay fever, so I'm sneezing everywhere, so that's not good.

Thank you.

Ready?

Danielle's moment has arrived.

THEY MURMUR

PIANO STARTS

# I don't want to show off no more

# I don't want to sing tunes no more

# I've made up my mind.

# That's it! I quit!

# I'm leaving it all behind... #

SHE HOLDS LAST NOTE

-Very good.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-How'd it go?

-Ooooh, I'm a bit shaky.

Yeah, it was OK.

Oooh! De-stress!

The auditions are over.

After a brief discussion with Steve and Nina from the school's agency,

the casting directors name the students they want to call back for a second audition next week.

-Are they going to get a recall?

-Yeah.

Aspiring singer Danielle and wannabe dancer Mitch can do nothing but wait

until Steve and Nina call them back to the school agency to reveal if they've been given a callback.

'This is the worst part, waiting.'

Most of the time it's a disappointment, so...don't mind.

Again, the sixth line down on the page...

Today Fiona has her final exam before she leaves the school forever.

If she does well enough, she'll take her A-levels at another college.

-Hey! Your last day ever.

-Ever.

-Ever, ever.

This is the last day I'm ever going to be in this uniform.

So it's all pretty emotional, my last exam...which I'm happy about,

but then I'm leaving, so I'm not going to see some of these people for ages.

Fiona's final exam is GCSE science, and she needs it to go well

if she's going to get into the college that she wants.

If I get Cs, it still won't be good enough. Like, I've got to get Bs in pretty much all my exams.

Fiona's final exam is here.

But, when it's all over, will Fiona be celebrating?

Handling pressure is all part of school life.

Senior students Mitch and Danielle are anxiously waiting to see if

they'll get a callback to the next stage of the cruise-ship auditions.

One by one, the hopefuls are called up to the agency by Steve and Nina.

Only a handful of students will be successful,

and already some have received good news.

Eventually it's Mitch's turn, along with five other dancers.

-Hello. You all right?

-Yeah.

-Thanks for coming back up. Erm, OK.

Ellis, Daryl, Mitch,

Charlotte P, Paige, Joe.

All of you, recall. So well done. You did a really good job.

Very good. Very, very good.

-Well done!

-Well done, guys. See you later on.

'Yeah, got a recall, which is really cool.'

It's just another step closer to, like, getting a job really.

Really happy, it'll be wicked.

Mitch and his five fellow dancers have got callbacks.

They'll audition again next week,

but where does this all leave singer Danielle?

-Hello, lovely. You all right?

-Yeah, pretty good.

-Yeah, good.

-Well done today.

-Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

First and foremost, they were really impressed by your energy,

and they thought your performance was good.

So that's good.

He's going to call you back in.

She's done it. She's got a recall.

So obviously you did a great job.

And they told me that I have a recall to be a singer on the ship.

And I'm so happy! It just gives you confidence, you know what I mean?

-Thank you. Oh! Thank you. Yes!

-Well done.

-Thank you.

It is a dream come true.

Like, you dream about it for the whole three years

that you've been here, and even longer before that.

I'd love...I'd just love to get it.

It's great news for Mitch and Danielle.

They're through to the next round.

But there's still a long way to go

if they're going to land a dream job sailing around the world.

Fiona's final GCSE exam is over.

She's happy it went well and the whole year are buzzing,

especially superstar dancer Layton.

That went really well actually.

I thought it would be harder and it was quite easy, so...

We just got told we have no more exams now.

So we can just focus on doing the show.

If you're doing the show, and if you're not

-then you can just have a nice summer holiday, like you.

-I'll just go!

For Fiona, this marks the end of her time at the school.

I'm just so happy it's over.

SHE WHOOPS

Never have to go in there again.

That was my seat at the front, always sitting there writing.

Never again.

But, after the initial joy,

the realisation that she's leaving school for good starts to sink in.

This is it now, I can go if I want and never have to come back.

I've got to go to my locker now. This is it, it's my last day.

Oh, I'm just really sad to leave. I'm really scared.

It's a big old world, and you don't realise until you start to leave.

But it's been a rollercoaster of four years

but it's been the best four years of my life.

I've got to go.

# Go on and take a bow

# But it's over now. #

It's been a stressful week for Rhianna, Jade and Reece.

Rhianna lost her lead role to Jade, who then underperformed at a hugely important run-through.

Reece has been caught in the middle

and now it's the hot topic around school.

I think the hardest thing for her

is seeing someone else do the part she loved so much.

-You could tell she loved doing it.

-And seeing her best mate do it.

I think Jade really wanted to get the part and she kind of thinks, "Yes!"

but then she feels guilty because Rhianna and her are really close.

The gala is now less than three weeks away.

Five, six, seven and... And turn, out and down.

Today Reece and Jade have an emergency rehearsal

to get the routine back on track.

Rhianna is still on the sidelines

and Jade is still struggling with the difficult choreography.

Jade, stop. Where are you supposed to be?

She desperately needs help with her dance steps

if she's going to be ready for the gala.

Luckily, the one person who knows the part better than anyone is happy to help.

Jade, when she's in the corner, when she's there, you're kind of...not...

You're right over there but you're kind of there, just like...

and then you go like...

I'm trying to help Jade out

because obviously I know the routines well

and she's just starting to get the hang of it.

Just go, dah...dah...

OK, and... OK, everybody together.

'Karen's given me a lot of support as well.'

When I was really upset she went to me, "This isn't the Rhianna I know."

It's gone. You need to move on. OK? Cos this isn't good.

If there's anything that I know that she doesn't, I'm going to tell her.

I'll go over it if you ask me, yeah?

Jade still has a long way to go until the routine is ready but,

with Rhianna by her side, she knows she doesn't have to do it alone.

I've just got to be strong now. I've just got to look ahead.

I love that part, that what's done is done now,

so I've just got to let her do it

and I'm just going to cheer her on whatever she does, because she's my best mate.

In this school, friends are very important,

even though sometimes you might have to compete against them.

It's not always easy.

But when it really matters a good friend is always there for you

no matter what.

Next time on School For Stars...

Mitch and Danielle go up against professional performers at their callback audition.

Let's go for it. We're only going to see this once.

And Layton is tested as he lands a major acting role.

I'm not as confident at acting as I am dancing.

I am out of my comfort zone.

This is life at the School For Stars.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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