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Footloose The Musical
Based on the original screenplay by Dean Pitchford
Stage adaptation by Dean Pitchford & Walter Bobbie
Music by Tom Snow
Lyrics by Dean Pitchford
Directed and choreographed by Karen Bruce
Musical Director Stephen Owens
Novello Theatre
Aldwich, London WC2B 4LD
Set and costume design by Morgan Large
Lighting design by James Whiteside
Call + 44 (0) 870 950 0940
Tickets £15 - £45.00
Mon – Thurs 7.45pm; Fri 5.30 & 8.30pm; Sat 3 & 7.45pm
Running time 2hrs 20 mins with intermission
Through Sept 9 2006
Gets You Where You Live
It’s 7.48 pm. You are admiring the auditorium, gilded cherubs and all, of the newly re-invented Novello Theatre. The packed house is patiently waiting for something to happen. And suddenly it does. No dimming of the lights as a gentle warning, no tedious cell phone reminder. You are simply thrust back in your seat as an irresistible G-force of light and sound grabs you where you live, and makes its audacious conquest. Footloose has begun.
You hope that the show can sustain this level of thrall. It does, big time. The 10 strong band under Stephen Owens’ direction sounds like ten times that number, and the dazzling company arrive on stage for the first of many gorgeous routines, both in song and dance. Leading the company, Derek Hough (American, British trained) as Ren and Lorna Want as Ariel Moore never miss a beat, or put a foot wrong. They are superbly supported by Giovanno Spano as Willard Hewitt, Stevie Tate-Bauer as Rusty, and a company of as young, talented and sexy actor/singer/dancers as any show could wish for.
Karen Bruce has choreographed and directed up a storm. Footloose is, of course, the stage adaptation of the smash hit film, which sported names such as John Lithgow, Kevin Bacon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Penn. It is blessed with a tight storyline – cool young Chicago boy, Ren, relocates to small town Bomont, where, after a tragedy involving drunk and stoned teenagers following a dance, dancing is prohibited. He struggles against this and is vilified by the powers that be, as exemplified by Martin Johnston’s, oh so recognisable, Principal Clark, whom we love to hate.
In the end freedom wins, and Ren brings them back to sanity and the licence for youth to be (a bit) crazy. Along the way, we are seduced by young love and some memorable 80’s hits including the title song, as well as “Holding Out For a Hero” and “Let’s Hear it For the Boy,” with the company powering through the numbers in devastating style.
.Disappointingly, the urbane Reverend Shaw Moore of Stephen McGann is strangely devoid of angst, self-righteousness or suppressed anger. The heartstrings are therefore not tugged when as architect of the dancing ban he has his supposed epiphany, melts the town’s hearts and they revoke the no-dancing law. Never mind - the young company are bursting with a joie de vivre and rebellious energy reminiscent of West Side Story.
Against a beautiful, silhouetted Edward Hopper–like small town skyline, the multi-tiered set wonderfully designed and lit by Morgan Large and James Whiteside respectively, evoked every scenario asked of it absolutely.
When finally the story winds up, the exuberant and irrepressible company provide a finale to remember. In the medley of the great numbers, for the audience, by now delirious, hitting each climax made the curtain calls into a show-equivalent of multiple orgasms. Worth the price of a ticket to London.
Not to be Missed
Saul Reichlin
London correspondent
Talk Theatre in Chicago Podcast
www.ChicagoCritic.com
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