Chemainus Theatre Festival's summer musical Footloose is a high energy fun night out.
The entire ensemble dances and sings their hearts out to both iconic songs from the 1980s film of the same name, and songs added to fill out the stage musical. Toes were definitely tapping in the audience on opening night as the show's run on the Chemainus stage began.
Footloose, based on the 1984 film, and directed here by Mark DuMez, tells the story of teenager Ren (Eric Timuss) who moves from Chicago to a small town after his father leaves him and his mother. The town is particularly conservative as it is still coming to grips with the wounds left after a car accident took the lives of several teens in town. To prevent such a thing from happening again, town officials, led by the town preacher Reverend Shaw (Andrew Wheeler), have outlawed dancing. After Ren almost inadvertently becomes the town rebel, he enlists the help of his fellow teens, including the preacher's rebellious daughter Ariel (Cassandra Consiglio), her friends Rusty (Marija Danyluk), Wendy Jo (Tiana Jung), and Urleen (Rachel Park), and his friend Willard (Oliver Kadar) to try to convince the adults to let them throw a dance.
The stage musical does deviate from the film in some respects, and is less gritty and more upbeat.
The cast is packed with talent, but standouts include Consiglio as Ariel, the preacher's daughter. Consiglio not only belts out the tunes (including showstopper 'Holding Out for A Hero' with Danyluk, Jung and Park), but also brings the anger, restlessness and grief to let the audience root for this wild child who is feeling the complicated mix of emotions with the intensity that only a teenager can.
Danyluk as Ariel's best friend Rusty is a star. Not only is she the best dancer in the cast, her energy and comedic timing is impeccable as she tries to get the hopeless-with-women Willard to step up and be her boyfriend. Her solo to 'Let's Hear it for the Boy' is so much fun you want to get up on the stage and dance along with her. Kadar as Willard is also a hoot as the down home boy intimidated by the girl he likes.
Wheeler as Reverend Shaw, the show's antagonist, brings just the right maturity and seriousness to the role. He's alternately so smug you want to punch him the face and so raw you see why his wife Vi (played by another standout Erin Ormond, but more on her later) and daughter Ariel do love him very much, in spite of his current tyrant routine.
Ormond is the perfect foil as the reverend's warm and kind wife and Ariel's mother. She's the calm in the middle of their storm. She adds just the right touch of former rebel to the role, so we can see where Ariel came from. Ormond, Consiglio and Janet Gigliotti as Ren's mother Ethel also have one of the more insightful songs in the show with 'Learning to be Silent' about how women are taught to swallow their opinions and feelings in a patriarchal society.
Timuss as Ren is likeable and has good chemistry with the rest of the cast, but it would have been interesting to see some more simmering anger and bite to the sarcasm from the character, especially at the beginning of the show when Ren has first been forced to give up his whole life and move by a deadbeat dad. This is where a bit more of the film's grit would have been welcome. Some of his best scenes are when he begins to bond with Ariel as they yell their frustration at trains, and when he confronts a hostile town council to try to convince them to lift their ban on dancing.
Filling out the excellent cast are Kevin Owen Clarke, Antony Knight, Hal Wesley Rogers, Jamieson Wickham and Niah Davis.
Also of note are the show's intricate and challenging dance numbers. Choreographer Tracey Power has not gone easy on the actors with her routines that work to match and enhance the high energy of the pop songs around which the musical is built. In 'I'm Free (Heaven Helps the Man)' for example, the actors are literally doing aerobics while singing. It's a credit to both the choreographer and performers how tight and slick the dance numbers looked even on opening night.
It was mentioned that tickets are going fast for this one, so if you want to book seats before it closes on Aug. 24, head to chemainustheatre.ca, or call 1-800-565-7738.
