Singer Mica Paris bringing Fame to Cambridge next week

The highly respected pop/soul singer will be at the Arts Theatre from Monday (April 29) with one of her favourite musicals.

It’s apt that Mica Paris’s latest project is Fame the Musical – a show based on the much-loved 1980 film about the lives of students at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts.

In her younger years, the London-born star was a huge fan of the hit TV series, which came two years after the movie, and has very fond memories of watching it as a child.

“When we were growing up, it was a very aspirational show for us,” explains Mica, speaking to the Cambridge Independent from a hotel in Stoke-on-Trent.

“We all came from South London, I was raised in Lewisham by my grandparents, and we would run back home from school to watch it because we all had dreams of wishing we could go to a school like that. You just wished you were there...

“It was a really, really big show when I was a kid. This was before Glee and High School Musical – none of these things existed up to that point, we only had West Side Story.

"So this was the first time you saw a TV show – and the movie – depicting life for artists and people who aspired to be artists, and the hard graft that they have to go through to become that.”

Mica, 49, adds: “For me, it’s a powerful show, not just entertainment but the message, which is very much needed today for the youngsters who are pretty much just obsessed with being celebrities.

"You’ve got to remember if you want to do this thing, you’re doing it because you’re passionate about it and you love it, and you have to be good at what you do – it’s not just about turning up.”

Speaking from many years of working in the business, Mica – who has also ‘moonlighted’ as a TV and BBC Radio 2 presenter – knows that fame can be a fleeting thing.

“I’ve got a 30-year career from just doing this. I’ve never had a job outside of this,” she says.

“I got signed the minute I got out of college I got signed straight away at 17.

“I’ve always done this, and even on those days, or years, where you’re not in the public eye, I’m still doing shows, I’m still doing what I love and it’s great.

"And if you didn’t have that and it was just about the fame aspect, you’d be finished because it doesn’t last.”

Fame is a touring production. Mica says: “It’s amazing, it’s going really well. It’s nearly a year now and I’ve never done a tour this long.

"This is my sixth musical, but the reason why I’ve stayed with this one is because it’s just so good.

“It’s a really good script and it’s a good cast – super talented – and it’s a really good two and a half hours of fun.”

Mica’s first taste of musicals came with Sweet Lorraine, written by Clarke Peters, who was responsible for Five Guys Named Moe, in 1993.

Also in that year, she appeared in Mama I Want to Sing, standing in for another rather famous soul singer.

“I took over from Chaka Khan, who’s an old friend,” recalls Mica.

“She needed to come out of the show and needed someone to replace her. So she called me and begged me to do it.

“It was a gospel show in the West End and it was really successful. I was there for three months and it went really well.”

Further theatre credits include Love Me Tender and Chicago.

Interestingly, Mica never intended to get into musical theatre. “It just happened because Clarke Peters put me in a show,” she says.

“He came to me and it was such a great part. I tried my hand at it and it went so well, that it carried on being something that I did as well as making records.”

Although Mica enjoys acting and presenting – and also had a book, Beautiful Within: Finding Happiness and Confidence in Your Own Skin, published in 2007 – singing will always be her first love.

“Singing is the thing that transports me to another planet,” she notes, “so that’s the one that’s on top of the list.”

Fame will be on at the Cambridge Arts Theatre from Monday, April 29 to Saturday, May 4.

The show starts at 7.45pm each night, with 2.30pm matinees on the Thursday and the Saturday.

Tickets: £20-£39. All ticket prices include a £3 per-ticket booking fee.

Box office: 01223 503333, or cambridgeartstheatre.com.