Footloose puts us in the tiny Southern town of Beaumont, where dancing is illegal following ‘the accident’ which occurred five years ago. When city boy Ren appears, he fights the restrictive laws and allows the citizens of the town to ‘cut footloose’ once again. SUPAS put on a tentative production of this classic film-turned-musical, and while some moments do hit the mark, ultimately the show falls a little flat.
The set for the show was minimal, with a raised platform along the back and a strip of cloth along the top. Given the many locations the musical takes place in, this did allow the stage to transform into a variety of places without much fuss, which helped the pacing to stay fast. It may have been nice to see some more colour in the base set though, as the grey boards did not portray the vitality of the music. The set pieces they moved on and off were really nice, designed by Neha Jakkampudi and assisted by a veritable army of set constructors: Jacob Harris, Shaynade Greaves-Douglas, Lucy Davies, Finn Wheatley and Ruth Lin. The Reverend’s house perhaps didn’t need as many full-size cabinets, as the process of them being moved onstage was quite awkward and the actors hardly interacted with them. However, the set did a great job of conveying the setting and was attractive and colourful.
The costumes were also very colourful, and some of them worked very well. I did sometimes feel as though they didn’t quite fit the setting: Eleanor Dunbar, one of the members of the Church and a good friend of the Reverend, as well as Ren’s mother Ethel McCormack, were both wearing very short skirts. For characters who were living in a town so conservative the teenagers weren’t even allowed to dance, this felt like an oversight and a direct contradiction to the viewpoints the characters were said to hold. While Ethel was supposed to be more open-minded than the rest of the town, she still encouraged Ren to settle down and not make trouble, so it may have worked better if she was costumed more like the other women in the town. However I did like the styling of Ariel, Ren and Willard, whose costumes portrayed their characters very accurately and gave a lot of life to their scenes. I do wish Rusty’s costume, hair and makeup had been given as much attention as the other three main teens, as her similarity to Ariel made her fade into the background somewhat.
These four did put on good performances, with James Laikin as Ren as a standout. The role requires a strong performer and Laikin certainly delivered, especially in the dance sections. Another standout was Ellie Potter as Vi Moore, the wife of the Reverend. Although she did not have much stagetime, her voice was incredibly strong and the emotional complexity she added was lovely. Wendy Jo, played by Kayla Chesler, was incredibly funny and Chesler hit the character really well. The whole cast was strong, and the chorus numbers were fantastic, directed by Rory Violet.
Perhaps Violet could have shown more energy in her direction, as some of the scenes felt a little static especially in the smaller group interactions. The choreography matched this: expectations were, of course, high due to the musical focusing so much on dance, but it was rarely impressive. Laikin did have some great sections, especially during the song I Can’t Stand Still, but overall the dance numbers felt quite lackluster. This didn’t lend itself to the intended atmosphere of the music, and combined with quite a lot of silent waiting for cues, it took some of the fun out of the songs. It could have been easily fixed with some filler chatting or lines while the band played the song introductions.
The band did a great job, well directed by Coby Brown. A highlight was Thomas Farrar on reeds, who was consistently pleasant to listen to. They could have benefitted from a different mix, as the drums were very loud and the bass and guitar were very quiet. This made some of the instrumental breaks quite awkward, as it looked like the dancers were simply dancing to a drumkit. However, when the band played as a whole they did an exceptional job, and were a highlight of the production.
Aggie Bos and Adam Rajczakowski evidently put a lot of thought into the lighting of this show, which really helped to complement some of the dance numbers. They could have been more colourful, but when colour was used it was very effective, such as during the number I’m Free.
Footloose was a fun watch, with a lot of heart and a great ensemble. While it could have benefitted from more artistic intention from the Production and Technical teams, the cast and band were both excellent and this show was a great evening out.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
