IT’S 30 years since Fame the Musical first appeared on the professional stage in Miami, Florida.

To celebrate, Selladoor Productions kicked-off their Fame UK tour at Manchester’s Palace Theatre.

Based on the famous film, Fame the Musical focuses on the students at New York’s High School for Performing Arts. At an age when hormones are raging, the students meet and fall in love with other each other.

This is especially true of dancers.

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Dancing on Ice star Jorgie Porter proves she's still got the moves.

Ex-Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter as Iris and Jamal Crawford as illiterate former street dancer, Tyrone, show how the closeness of dance can release emotions which are captured by the audience.

The cast exude liveliness. They never stop but they also indicate perseverance, the most necessary quality for a would be star.

Stephanie Rojas does well as Carmen. A master of Spanish Dancing, she has a distinctive voice which rises above the chorus and the band especially when she sings “I’m Gonna Live Forever”.

Unfortunately, the one poignant thing we learn is that nobody lives forever and this hits home with Simon Anthony’s Schlomo with whom she writes a song.

Mica Paris is well-known as a singer but, this time, she plays the substitute mother of her students, their English teacher, Miss Sherman.

Her performance of These are My Children sums this up whilst showing how well she can sing.

Choreographer and director, Nick Winston, brings out the best in the young dancers and, at times, you want to get up and join them.

* Fame continues until Saturday, July 28. Tickets from atgtickets.com/Manchester. Star rating: * * *