Review: ‘Taking the Stage’

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In the opening scene of ‘Taking the Stage,’ two young women in leotards discuss their aches and pains.

‘So now my back is, like, shot.’

‘The things we do for dance.’

‘Look at the alignment of my toes, that’s gross.’

It is such small, unglamorous, particular moments that make me enormously fond of this new reality musical from MTV, set at Cincinnati’s School for Creative and Performing Arts, an institution that we are told ‘has produced many famous performers from Sarah Jessica Parker to Nick Lachey.’ Lachey, the boy band singer, reality TV star and game show host, ‘conceptualized’ the series, which is intended to read as a real-life ‘Fame’ and tracks ‘five seniors, on the cusp of greatness’ over a 10-episode arc.

Premiering tonight, the series follows the method of ‘The Hills,’ and ‘Laguna Beach’ before it -- production veterans of those shows are onboard here -- in leaving out the usual spot interviews and video diaries and polishing the footage to look more like a drama than a documentary. Still, it’s important that we see these kids as the real thing and for all their rare drive and talent, they are, indeed, clearly kids and really real.

Read more here.

(Photo courtesy MTV)