Today as Prairie and I were wandering up Broadway to return a couple movies I’d rented (last week — I owe another firstborn child now), we noticed that the marquee for the Broadway Performance Hall at Seattle Central Community College was advertising the stage production of Footloose, the Musical. We figured that that’d be fun, and were both curious about just how the movie had been translated to stage, but didn’t think much more of it.
A little further down the street, however, we were stopped by a gentleman who asked us if we liked musical theatre. We allowed that we did, and he asked if we’d be interested in free tickets to the afternoon matinee of Footloose — which started in about twenty minutes. It turns out that the production was being put on by Broadway Bound, a local children’s theatre organization for children 5-18. I was a little hesitant at first (I’d been feeling a little under the weather this weekend), but the guy was a good sell (as any good parent of one of the performers should be!), and we decided that it’d be a fun way to spend the afternoon.
As it turns out, the show was a blast. These kids did an excellent job with the show, and the audience was really into it, cheering and clapping along with more than a few of the numbers. Having been involved with theatre and music (and sometimes both) for many years as a kid, I could really appreciate the work that went into the show. Very impressive, all the way around, especially Brendan Griffin as Willard (the country hick that Ren teaches to dance in the movie) and Ryah Nixon as Rusty (Willard’s love interest, and the best friend of Ariel, the female lead). All of the cast did quite well, but these two were the standouts, in my opinion.
The costuming was a real treat, too. As the story itself isn’t really tied to any one time, I wasn’t sure if they’d keep the 80’s feel of the original movie, but they did indeed. From off-the-shoulder sweaters and legwarmers to 80’s prom dresses that some thrift store must have been thrilled to finally sell, to the metallic shirt and skinny tie that Ren first shows up in, the outfits fit right in with the original mid-80’s setting of the movie.
What was really fascinating for me was just seeing how the story of the film was translated into a stage show. Overall it ended up working out really well — all the hit songs from the soundtrack of the film were incorporated into the show itself as musical numbers, most of them requiring just a little bit of lyrical re-wording in order to ensure that they moved the story along. The second half of the show does drag a little bit — all of the slow, introspective, “what am I doing?” numbers end up there, and the pacing suffers a bit for it — but when the big high-energy numbers kick in, they bring the house down.
Highlights for me included “Somebody’s Eyes”, which went from a song about a jealous ex-girlfriend to the paranoia of an entire town watching for someone to screw up; “Holding Out For a Hero”, as Ariel, Rusty, and their two girlfriends daydream about their perfect men; and what was probably the biggest showstopper, “Let’s Hear it For the Boy”, where the cast teaches Willard how to dance at a country dance club just out of town.
All in all, a great show, and many kudos to all the cast and crew — it was an entirely unexpected way to spend the afternoon, but both Prairie and I had an absolute blast.
