Dancer Alice rebels against her posh parents by inviting scruffy pianist Victor to dinner with them, and Marco cheesily romances Jenny.

Young choreographer-turned-director Kevin Tancharoen is careful to pay homage to the original, while making it a fresh new film in its own right.

So there is an impromptu lunchtime jamming session, but diehard fans will be disappointed not to see the taxi sequence revisited – perhaps it was too tricky in modern NYC?

But there’s nothing forced about the musical numbers, they happen organically as part of the intermingling storylines.

And apart from the Jenny/Marco plotline, there’s nothing Disney about the updated Fame.

Tancharoen deals gently with issues such as suicide, under-age drinking and relationships, while teenage spots and imperfect teeth are centre stage along with toned- down, naturalistic colours.

The music is updated for a late Noughties audience, with rap and hip-hop being the order of the day.

The grand finale graduation show is a medley of ballet, African tribal dance and Gospel singing, but it doesn’t raise the roof.

Far more compelling is the sexy dance routine Payne performs to Sam Sparro’s Black And Gold – and Mullally’s impromptu karaoke performance.

Naughton, who effortlessly dispatches the biggest numbers throughout, sings an R&B cover of the Fame theme song, but it’s only heard over the closing credits – sadly, we never see her perform it.

She’s definitely the stand-out actress among the young cast, and we will undoubtedly remember her name for some time to come.