'Fame': Sean hangs in there!

With 'Fame: The Musical' reaching its concluding stages, Dunshaughlin's Sean Carey just made it into the semi-finals following last Sunday night's performance. Once again, it was between himself and fellow contestant, Conleth Kane, as to who would have to take part in a sing-off for the judges, but Sean just made it though on the public vote, avoiding possible dumping by the three judges. The 19 year-old is now in the last three competing for the male lead role in a nationwide tour of 'Fame: The Musical'. Sunday night's show was designed to take the contestants out of their comfort zones, and Sean was seen as being weak at dancing. In 'Judges' Choice' week, Simon Delaney chose the song 'Footloose' for Sean in order to see if he was up to the challenge of putting in an exciting and dynamic performance. And the gamble paid off. "Boy, can you dance!" said Simon afterwards. "This was such a step for you tonight," said judge Erica Gimpel, from the original 'Fame' TV series. Robert C Kelly was critical, however, saying the young Dunshaughlin man's performance was still amateur. Sean is the only one of the remaining males left who hasn't been trained professionally, as he came through local stage groups such as St Mary's Musical Society in Navan. He is now one of six through to the penultimate week in the competition on Sunday night next, and the final will be on Sunday 13th June on RTÉ One. The other remaining finalists are Dubliners Sarah O'Connor from Lucan; Jessica Cervi from East Wall; Ben Morris from Tallaght; Michael Joseph from Waterford and Roisin Magee from Newry. Conleth Kane left the competition after he and Sarah O'Connor received the lowest number of public votes. The search for the stars of 'Fame: The Musical' was launched in January and thousands of applications were received. The 12 finalists were chosen from the hundreds of performers who went on to audition at locations in Dublin, Cork and in London's West End. In a first for Irish television, the show is offering one boy and one girl the chance to kick-start their career and land the lead role in the nationwide tour.