Footloose

Set in Bomont, a small town in the deep south, this musical tells of the struggle one man, the Rev. Shaw Moore, has in coming to terms with the tragic death of his son and his friends as they drive home from a dance supposidly having been drinking and taking drugs. As a result he bans dancing and any kind of enjoyment in the hope of protecting the youngsters in his parish from a similar fate. Along comes Ren McCormack and his mum Ethel from Chicago to this town in the middle of nowhere to live with his aunt and uncle. Ren cannot understand or accept the prohibitions and sets out to change everything so that young people can have fun.

The Rev. Moore (Christopher Cameron) was most convincing as the grieving, protective preacher his turmoil evident in ‘Heaven Help Me’. His wife Vi (Cathy Geddie) gave an excellent perfomance as she struggles with her own emotions and split loyalties between her husband and somewhat rebellious daughter Ariel. One of the most moving scenes for me was when Vi tries to get her husband to undersatnd that she too is grieving.’He was my son too’ was a line which hit home hard as did the stunning ‘Can You Find It In Your Heart.’ Ariel (Felicity Thomas) displayed the behaviour of a typical teenager wanting to break lose and experience life and certainly belted out ‘Holding On For A Hero’ along with her most believable buddies Rust (Charlotte Jones),Wendy Jo (Jo Heinemeier), and Urleen (Sophie Harper) This quartet complemented each other displaying typical behaviour of a group of teenage girls and blended well vocally especially in ‘Somebody’s Eyes ‘. Rusty’s great voice was well shown off as she led the company in ‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’, a cracking number.

Ren (Ross MacPherson) gave another commendable performance. A flexible gymnast, an energetic dancer, strong vocalist and charismatic player it was no wonder Ariel fell for him instead of rough and ready bad boy Chuck (Andrew Knox) who also came across well. Another vocal highlight for me was ‘Learning To Be Silent’ sung by Vi, Ariel and Ethel (Ciara McBrien) each conveying the heartache they felt.

Although Footloose is based on a fairly dark theme, the characters succeeded in balancing the seriousness of the plot with fun especially Willard (Thomas McFarlane). With his slow, drawn out delivery of lines, comic timing and expressive face he typified the persception of a slow witted deep south character. ’Mama Says’ with Willard and a small male ensemble was so much fun.

As well as having such a strong principal line up the entire company is to be congratulated on excellent vocal ensemble singing and first class choreography. The big production numbers were most imopressive. With such a large cast it would have been easy to try to hide but everybody appeared to be confident and precise in the slick, polished choreography. There certainly didn’t seem to be any ‘loose feet.’

This was altogether a very commendable production. One of those shows where I was exhausted just watching the energetic action on stage. My only slight crticism was issues with the sound balance on the night I was there. It was sometimes very difficult to pick up the dialogue and lyrics but hopefully that was put right.

This was a most enjoyable production which certainly did rock.

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