I won’t dance; don’t
ask me
by Michael Dresdner
Here’s my confession: I never saw the original movie, nor
the remake, nor the play, so I came to Tacoma Little Theatre’s presentation of Footloose,
the Musical with no preconceived notions or expectations. That’s fair,
I figured.
Sadly, so was Footloose; fair, rather than great. However,
that may be more the property than the presentation. After it opened on
Broadway, the consensus was that the show itself was poor, but the music and
talented cast made it entertaining. That’s still true.
The basic plot, in case you, like me, have been living under
a rock, revolves around Ren (Kawika Huston), a high school student who deals
with his job and life frustrations by dancing. He and his mother (Deric
Tarabochia) leave Chicago
and move in with relatives in dinky Bomont thanks to poverty brought on by a
father who has abandoned them. The town, at the urging of the influential
Reverend Moore (Jay Iseli), has abolished dancing. We eventually find out that’s
because five years earlier, four high school students were killed in an alcohol
fueled car wreck while returning from a dance. (No, they don’t ban driving or
drinking; that would be too logical.)
Local slow-witted high school cowboy Willard (Carlos Barajas)
befriends Ren and fills him in on the town’s back story and characters. There’s
Ariel (Elise Campello), the Reverend’s rebellious daughter who secretly runs
with Chuck Cranston (DuWayne Andrews), a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.
There’s also a gaggle of girls led by Rusty (Antonia Darlene), who loves
Willard but is blocked by his shyness and inability to dance, of all things.
Ren becomes a dancing renegade and rabble rouser, and with
the help of Ariel, who is gradually falling in love with him, makes a pitch to
the town council to allow dancing. They vote no, but he later wins over the
Reverend, whose son was one of those killed in the crash, by showing him they
both have suffered loss and thus share common ground. The Reverend changes his
mind about the dance, which somehow miraculously overrules the town council.
Meanwhile, formerly clumsy Willard learns to dance with
astonishing speed and alacrity. In the end, everyone dances, even the Reverend
and his wife. Happiness reigns as Willard pairs with Rusty, Ren pairs with
Ariel, Moore and his wife rediscover each other, and poor Chuck conveniently
fades from view.
Got it? Good. Now let’s talk about the production.
In spite of some opening night rough edges that will almost
certainly be smoothed as the run progresses, there was much to commend it. The
large song and dance numbers are the best thing the show has going for it, and
are quite good indeed. That’s not surprising, since director Chris Nardine is
well known as an outstanding dancer and choreographer.
The leads and ensemble were good, with some excellent
singing, some excellent dancing, and even some very good acting, but it seemed
most of cast, most of the time, shone in only one or two out of three, at best.
There were a few standouts, though.
The best of the bunch was Antonia Darlene as Rusty. She sings,
dances and brings the sort of effervescent energy and stage presence that makes
musicals great. Thanks largely to her lead, “Let’s Hear it for the Boy,” her
love song to Willard, is the best song and dance number in the show.
Jay Iseli, a talented Tacoma
acting mainstay, gave bombastic, imperious Reverend Moore all the gravitas he
deserved, then went realistically through the play’s one convincing change of
heart scene. Kudos also to Andrews as Chuck, who crackled and sparkled whenever
he took center stage, but was sadly relegated to nowhere land as the script eventually
writes him out of the action. We never do find out what happened to him.
The most notable weakness in the play was just that;
weakness. All too often, during both songs and dialog, the cast failed to
project well enough to be clearly heard. The poor acoustics of the deep TLT
stage contribute to that. It’s hard to be heard on that stage from an upper
level when you are behind the proscenium arch.
On the production side, the five piece band led by Wayne Hart was excellent, both by themselves and in their
ability to guide and follow the actors without overpowering them. Because there
are so many venues in the play, there’s no set to speak of beyond a couple of
steps and a raised platform. Scenes were established with a few pieces of
furniture backed up by huge, vivid background photos projected onto a rear
screen. Together, they established when we were outside, in church, at the
dump, in a house, or at a bar. The courthouse photo showed an American flag
next to an Oklahoma
flag, the only clue as to where Bomont is.
Costuming (Michele Graves) was interesting and varied. I understood
the bright, almost trashy dance outfits in Chicago and in the dance scenes, but would
have expected more sedate, conservative clothing on kids in school in such a
repressive town. While costumes were eye catching, they did not, at least to
me, firmly establish a time period when this play unfolds. Nor did anything
else. There are cell phones, so I guess that means it is in the present, but
some of the behavior and mores seemed at least three decades out of date.
I suspect most of the packed house on opening night already
knew the story. That’s a good thing. Perhaps the best way to appreciate this
talented cast is to sit back and enjoy the lively song and dance numbers, then
cheer for your favorites at curtain call.
Footloose, the Musical
April 20 to May 20,
2012
Tacoma
Little Theatre
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