Footloose At Blackpool Opera House Review

Reviewed by Cath Joyce

The film Footloose premiered in 1984 and became a box office hit, it was adapted for stage in 1998 and following two critically acclaimed tours and a West End run is touring the country again and we went to see it last night at the Opera House Blackpool. Unfortunately, a number of cast members had Covid and the planned opening night had to be cancelled so we saw a very different cast than what was advertised. Despite this setback the show did indeed go on and what a performance it was!!

The musical, which is loosely based on a true story, follows teenager Ren McCormack, who moves from Chicago to Bomont, a small Midwestern town, with his Mum after his Dad walks out on them. Dancing is banned in Bomont, following a tragic accident in which four students were killed on their return home from a dance and the town has never got over it. Like many small American towns of the time Bomont is full of highly religious, straight-laced adults whilst the children of the town just want to be teenagers and have some fun! As well as making new friends and falling for the Reverend’s daughter Ariel, he battles to abolish the ban and succeeds in staging the first high school prom.

Produced by the Selladoor Theatre Company, Footloose The Musical opens with the highly energetic Footloose theme song giving us a taste of the night to come. Footloose manages to achieve a good balance between story-telling and songs and was packed full of great hits, taking me right back to the 80’s. Music is obviously central to the show; highlights for us were “Holding Out For a Hero” and “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” along with the main Footloose theme.

Considering the very late changes to the cast, everybody put on a very strong performance, not only singing and dancing but skipping and roller skating too! A number of the cast played instruments, bringing the orchestra onstage which was great to see. The show was very well choreographed by Matthew Cole making full use of the large stage for some impressive dance numbers using styles from the 80’s mixed with a country & western feel.

The star of the show for me was Jake Quickenden as naive country boy Willard Hewitt, he is obviously comfortable in the role and brings plenty of humour to the show along with a bit of eye candy!  The set looked great, it quickly transformed from church to school to burger bar and back again setting the scenes for the production. Costumes were fantastic, bringing a real 80’s feel, the ladies in the audience particularly enjoying the part where Jake is stripped down to just a pair of tiny shorts!!

Following the interval, the pace began to pick up and culminated in an energetic finale where the entire cast took to the stage for the final dance. The audience got into the spirit of the night and rose to their feet for a final rendition of Footloose giving a truly well-deserved standing ovation for a simply brilliant cast.

Footloose is in Blackpool until the 16th April and has many more dates planned throughout the UK until the end of August.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tickets cost from £15.00 plus service charge of £2.50 per ticket

The show is on from 11th to 16th April 2022

To book tickets please visit https://www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/whats-on/footloose or phone the box office on 01253 625252