Footloose
The Company Theatre's Teen Conservatory of their Academy's first
show of 2010 is "Footloose", a musical based on the 1984 movie. This
show tells the story of Ren,a fun-loving boy from Chicago, who finds
himself having to move to Bomont, Oklahoma, a small, conservative,
town with his mother. Dancing and rock'n roll are banned in this
town until this teenager opens their eyes with his zest for life.
Breaking every taboo, Ren brings dance to the heart of a town held
back by the memory of a tragedy. Although most dance musicals have
almost no plot, this one has a serious side to it which helps to
give it a wonderful blend of upbeat numbers and meaningful ballads."
Footloose is a show with a lot of heart, boasting many Oscar
nominated songs in its score and with insightful direction by Zoe
Bradford and Jordie Saucerman who also creates the gorgeous sets,
brilliant musical direction by Michael Joseph and his six piece
orchestra and fabulous choreography by Sally Ashton Forrest, this
talented young exuberant 30 member cast with five adult cast
members sell this show to a very appreciative audience.
Zoe works her magic with this script by infusing it with the needed
depth to give the characters more than one dimension. Jordie's
beautiful sets consist of easily moved set pieces and slide
projection backdrops. Michael conducts his 6 piece orchestra,
plays one of the keyboards and makes these young people excel
whether in the group numbers or the emotionally charged ballads.
Sally works wonders with this enormous cast with the group numbers
which include the title number that opens and closes this show,
"Let's Hear It For the Boy" where Ren teaches Willard how to
dance, "Holding Out for a Hero", and "Dancing Is Not a Crime" the
rap song where the kids try to convince the town council to overturn
their ban on dancing, the boys dance in "Mama Says".
Leading this cast is Darren Bunch as Ren McCormack and Kayleigh
Brennan as Ariel Moore. Darren opens the show with a rousing
rendition of "Footloose". His dancing is astounding as he moves
around the stage like a whirling dervish not only in this song but
in all of his numbers. explains why dancing is important to Ren in
his "I Can't Sit Still" song and convinces his classmates to bring
life back to Bomont in "Heaven Help the Man" song which closes the
first act with an excellent group dance. Darren shows off his most
dramatic moment in his final confrontation scene with the minister
while his funniest moment comes while he is roller skating and bumps
into Willard. Kayleigh is a gorgeous raven haired gal who gives this
girl a backbone whether she is standing up to her parents or her
thug boyfriend. She displays a fantastic singing voice when she
belts out "Holding Out for a Hero" with Rusty, Wendy and Urleen who
hold ice-cream cone microphones in their hands and with Darren in
the duet "Almost Paradise". Kayleigh shows off her wonderful dancing
talents in this show, too. and make you want to cheer when they
finally get together after all their trials and tribulations.
Steve Shannon plays the pivotal role of Reverend Shaw Moore who
convinced the town to ban dancing after his son was killed in a
tragic car accident years ago. He shows this man's devastation of
losing his son and shows off his powerful singing voice in "On Any
Sunday and "Heaven Help Me". He shows the realization of having to
let go of the past to bring his family close together again by
living life to the fullest. Steve is fantastic in this role where he
shows off his dramatic side, having played comic roles in "The Music
Man" and "Arsenic and Old Lace", The two sympathetic mothers in this
show, Vi Moore and Ethel McCormack are played by Emily Arsenault and
Karen Cavallo. Emily's voice soars in her song, "Can't You Find It
in Your Heart" a tear jerker song where she wants to be loved as she
was years ago. Karen's acting as the long suffering mother of this
teenage boy is wonderful. She makes a strong impression as this
underused character in the show and shines while doing so. Some of
the other adult roles include Ryan Barrow as the constantly yelling
coach while James Valentin is the strict by the rules principal. He
is a hoot in this role stealing many a scene.
The biggest scene stealer in the show is Nathan Pacheco, an eighth
grader who plays country bumpkin, Willard Hewitt who is always
itching for a fight. His southern drawl and comic line delivery are
fantastic. Willard can barely string a sentence together around
girls and is also embarrassed because he never learned how to dance.
But when Nathan does dance he does a superb job. His comic song
which is a hoot, is called "Mama Says" which is about the dumb
things his mother told him to do including never bring a toaster
into a bathtub. When Willard finally confesses his love to Rusty,
she picks him up and carries him offstage. Rusty, his girlfriend is
played by pretty brunette, Madison Rockwell who has a powerful voice
which she uses in her solo number, "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and
in the trio number called "Somebody's Eyes'' where she warns Ren to
be careful because there is always someone in town keeping track of
his activities. Her two sidekicks Urleen and Wendy Jo are
wonderfully played by Allison Abate and Rebecca Dickinson who get
many laughs with their antics. The show's bad boy, Chuck Cranston is
played by Matt McCarty who plays this thug-like character very
convincingly. He shows off his dancing and singing with the boys in
"This Girl Gets Around". Another topnotch vocalist in this show is
pretty blonde Caitlin Ford who has a gorgeous soprano voice which
she uses in the scat song "Let's Make Believe We're in Love" with a
wonderful quartet backing her up. Kudos to the cast and crew who
make this a show to be very proud of. So for rip-roaring return to
1984, be sure to catch "Footloose" at Company Theatre performed by
their Teen Conservatory, who show off their talents in this show.
''FOOTLOOSE'' ( 22 to 24 January, 2010)
Company Theatre's Academy, 30 Accord Park Drive, Norwell, MA
1(781)871-2787 or www.companytheatre.com