Footloose  Nov. 21, 2007

James MacKillop Syracuse New Times

Of all the new stage musicals from the last ten years, Footloose has the best legs.  In more than one way. Mel Brooks’ The Producers had a bigger opening, but we’ve probably seen the last of it. Footloose, on the other hand, enjoys growing popularity with regional and college companies, is sustaining a huge revival in London right now, and will soon be a major motion picture (again). The central theme of rock ‘n roll joy vs. Puritan gloom never wears out. More important, though, for all its contemporary hipness, Footloose employs all the strengths of the thought-to-be-dead golden age musical.

Reduced to its fundamentals, the story line could have been borrowed from ancient myth or at least the Arthurian legends. A handsome youth who loves music, Ren (Mark Bell, Jr.), comes to a repressive small town where be meets beautiful princess, Ariel (Katherine Bilofsky), and drives away a bully, Chuck (Alex Allport), to win her. Ren is befriended by a clumsy and reliably comic sidekick, Willard (Shawn Forster). In a subplot, Willard wants to make time with a cute chick, Rusty (Kara Tripoli). And Rusty is part of trio singers, along with Urleen (Lynne Walker) and Wendy Jo (Jodie Baum), a small-town white version of the Supremes. Meanwhile, Ren must confront Ariel’s music and dance-hating father, Rev. Shaw Moore (David Baker), without losing the object of his affection. To do this he must lose at a town council meeting, but still stating a case that prompts the Reverend’s later change of heart. Everybody wins in the end.

In the musical, as in the 1984 film upon which it was expanded, author Dean Pitchford hedges his bets so everyone can be in the finale.  Rev. Moore is not at all a harsh spokesman for the Christian Right, whose real crusade against the devil’s music peaked around 1958. Instead, he’s only thinking of public safety, after dance-loving youths smashed their car around a tree following a night of boozing and rocking some years back. This means that both of Ariel’s parents are seen as sympathetic. Thus the thematic center of the show comes in the solo from Vi Moore (Tamaralee Shutt) “Can’t You Find It in Your Heart?” We know the Reverend is not a villain from his first act “Heaven Help Me” and two numbers toward the end of the second act, the talking blues “I Confess” and the reprise of “Can’t You Find It in Your Heart?” Early reports from the forthcoming film of the musical are that mother the Reverend and Vi will be diminished in it.

Despite the continuing interest in the 1984 film, which made stars of Kevin Bacon as Ren and Sarah Jessica Parker as Rusty, the story is not what drives the musical. Borrowed from the film are a handful of hit songs, “Let’s Hear It For the Boy,” sung by Rusty and company. More important are new songs by Tom Snow, augmented by other from people like Eric Carman, Sammy Hager, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman. David Pitchford wrote the original film and all the lyrics, old and new, as well as putting together the final package. The results, a mix of genres and moods, with love songs and novelty songs leading to big production numbers would have pleased Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lerner and Loewe in their respective heydays, at least structurally.

The golden age model also calls for a large caste with second leads and supporting players sharing some of the heavy lifting. Talent Company Executive Producer Christine Lightcap performed some of her biggest contributions before rehearsal began.  Famed for her ability to find the right person for the right role, as well as her powers of persuasion, she has assembled what could be called (with a small stretch) an all-star cast, not only lining up strong people for all the leads put getting the leads from other companies’ shows to take walk-ons, like David Walker and Alan Stillman. Lightcap herself appears in a series of small parts, as a choir member and a country singer, but brings down thunderous laughter in one small speaking part as Betty Blast, the burger palace owner, on rollerskates.

Relative newcomer Mark Bell, Jr, nominated for a SALT award last year, comes tailor-made for Ren. Light-footed and athletic, like the young Kevin Bacon, he not only can dance but can leap like a gymnast or tumbler.  With his open face that suggests innocence and a rather slight build, Bell’s the perfect hero send against a bully.  Further, he can approach authority without threatening it. Better yet, he retains a masculine allure while mocking himself in the atrocious cow-patterned uniform as the burger palace. His two big solos, the first act “I Can’t Stand Still” and the second act “Dancing Is Not A Crime,” reveal considerable vocal powers.

The reverend’s daughter might be a princess, but she had begun her rebellion before Ren arrives. Free-spirited Ariel (the name is from Shakespeare’s The Tempest) favors “kick-ass” red cowboy boots that are made for dancing instead of walking. Katherine Bilofsky brings an unusual mix of youthful vitality and mature experience to role. Ten years ago when she was actually in high school, Bilofsky was playing heavy dramatic leads for Syracuse Civic Theatre, women twice her age. Now that she’s in her mid-twenties she’s become more convincing as a high schooler. Her voice is as wonderful as ever, but her body is leaner and tighter, with a washboard tummy that’s often on display.

The comic second leads, Shawn Forster and Kara Tripoli steal scenes, as they’re supposed to. All the parents are rounded characters who can sing, starting with Ren’s mother Ethel (Kate Huddleston). David Baker, one of the area’s top band singers, makes the Reverend human while retaining his straight edge integrity. As the Reverend’s wife Vi, Tamaralee Shutt brings a lovely lyricism to her important solo, “Can; You Find It in Your Heart?” The one comic adult, Principal Harry Clark (Dane Pulver), gets his laughs on cue.

News York-based director/choreographer Bob Durkin has an excellent sense of blocking and staging, bringing out the thunder in big production numbers like Ariel and Rusty’s “Holding Out for a Hero.” The four musicians, led by Tom Witkowski and Anna Lysiuk deliver supportive vibrancy without overpowering the leads. Stephen Beebe’s mobile sets allow a church to quickly turn into a courtroom. Jeanette Reyner’s many costumes help shape moods in every scene. Cindy Shippers’ lighting creates intimacy in open spaces.

Footloose still has lots of legs, and a lot of those legs are dancin’.

'Footloose' production is pure gold