Pair Brings ‘Fame’ to America : Two men come from Stockholm to present their production at the Alex Theatre.

The American aura glows around the world these days. Films, television shows, recordings. Even our Broadway musicals. Even something as indigenous as “Fame,” both the film and the TV show.

And the stage adaptation, called “Fame, the musical,” conceived and developed by David De Silva (who produced the original film) has been running in Stockholm for the past two years and is still going.

Its Stockholm success was one of the reasons its director, Runar Borge, and its choreographer, Lars Bethke, were brought here to re-create their staging for the Alex Theatre production, which opens Saturday.

For 47-year-old Borge, a native of Oslo, “Fame” is No. 62 in a long list of directorial assignments, from “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Chicago” to “West Side Story” and “Chorus Line.”

“We do all those shows,” Borge says with a chuckle. When asked how this--his first American production--came about, he laughs even louder. “You’re asking me ? It was the last thing I thought, really. It’s the most American thing I can think of, the dream of becoming a star. Scandinavia is so far away from that. We must have done something with the show in Stockholm that the producers liked, because they came over and saw it, and that’s how it happened. We didn’t ask them to come. They came. “

Borge was anxious about their seeing his production. He had cut some music, trimmed some scenes and tailored the staging for the Stockholm cast.

He remembers thinking, “Oh, God, they’re coming. We changed things. They’ll come and say, ‘No. Stop the show, we don’t want it.’ ” But the opposite happened. Borge was told not to change a thing. “When you come to America,” he was told, “this is the way we want it.” This, after four previous American productions had come and gone. That isn’t to say Borge is going to duplicate the Stockholm production here. He just doesn’t work that way. He’s prone to make the production fit the performers.

He explains, “I’m not a director who can go around the world doing the same show. People are doing that, happy having one or two shows, going around the world doing them. The same show every time.”

“People are not allowed to change a thing,” Borge continues. “I couldn’t do it like that. I’d rather work at something else than copy myself all the time. It’s not fun at all. You have to change.”

The choreographer for the Swedish production and this new one at the Alex, Stockholm’s Lars Bethke, agrees wholeheartedly with Borge. Although most of his choreography is the same as in their first staging, he explains that some of the numbers have been changed.

Bethke, 28, is a multi-threat artist, having appeared as Danny in “Grease,” Bernardo in “West Side Story” and Mr. Mistofeles in “Cats,” all under Borge’s direction. He choreographs ballets and modern dance, and look closely at the dancer doing the jump-split on the “Fame” lobby poster. That’s also Bethke, although he never appeared in the show.

“Fame” is his first choreography for a musical. When Borge asked him to take on the task, Bethke was thrilled.

He says, “After doing 300 or 400 performances of ‘Grease’ for two years, I just felt I didn’t want to go up on stage right after that.”

Bethke has had the opportunity to be inventive in his choreography for the show.

“There are not a lot of musicals around where you can make things that you really like yourself. . . . It’s fun to be able to do it again and make those changes, and see it grow even more.”

Capturing the American feeling of the show was not a problem, Borge says. Sometimes at home they call Stockholm “Little New York.” Borge says he’s used to the “style of America.” They see American films and television shows in the original language, with subtitles.

Both Borge and Bethke are glad to be here staging this production, but say they would not come here looking for work. Both realized--as Borge says--when auditioning close to 600 young performers for the Alex production, “. . . It’s hard to find work, because the talent is fantastic, really.”

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Fame.”

Location: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Hours: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. 2 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays. Ends June 5.

Price: $10 to $42.

Call: (800) 233-3123.