Reviewed by Jenny Bray
Footloose is a musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The original screenplay was by Dean Pitchford and the stage adaptation is by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie with music by Tom Snow.
This show was on at the Lyceum, which is one of the Sheffield theatres in the city centre. It is well signposted around the city centre and there is plenty of parking nearby. The local Q park at Charles Street has an agreement with the theatres to offer the first hour free if you get a ticket from a member of staff at the theatre. The Box Office is in front of you as you first go in the main entrance and merchandise is normally sold in this area too. On the right-hand side of the theatre is a bar and a kiosk selling sweet treats. There is a second bar on the first floor. Staff go around the auditorium with ice cream during the interval. All the staff I encountered were very welcoming and friendly.
Ren McCormack (Joshua Dowen) has to tell his friends in Chicago, where he has grown up, that he is having to move to a small-town miles away to his Uncle’s with his mother after his father has left them and they can’t afford to stay. Once they’ve moved they attend church, with the rest of the small town they’ve moved to, and listen to the sermon of Reverend Shaw Moore (Reuven Gershon). The reverend’s wife Vi (Maureen Nolan) and daughter Ariel (Hannah Price) are also present. After the service Ariel meets up with her friends Rusty (Laura Sillett), Wendy-Jo (Emma Fraser) and Urleen (Gracie Lai) and they head to a local diner to meet her bad boy boyfriend Chuck (Connor Going). When Ren starts school the following day he meets Willard (Dominic Gee Burch) and they become friends after some initial banter. Ren tells Willard about the dancing he did in Chicago and shows him some while in the school. He gets told off and then realises that his new home has some odd rules and laws, including no dancing in the town. These were introduced after a bad car crash killed 4 young Bomont High pupils 5 years earlier. They head out of town to a barbecue place with dancing so they can all experience dancing as Ren wants to show them all what it’s like. As they all move towards the end of high school they are faced with not having a prom due to the dancing ban so Ren realises they need to do something to try to change this and petition the council to allow it.
For the Sheffield shows Dominic Gee Burch is playing Willard and not Gareth Gates. This was announced but I found it a little odd that the brochure didn’t state that he was cover for Willard as the covers for all the other main characters are listed in there. Willard’s role was the key person in a couple of really funny parts including during ‘Holding Out For a Hero’ when he is stripped down to some sparkly shorts and starts flexing and when Ren is trying to teach him how to dance when they’ve headed out of town. He also fails to spot Rusty’s very obvious flirting as his character is portrayed in a dumbed down, Forest Gump kind of way.
Joshua Dowen was a great Ren. He oozed energy and was full of smiles throughout the show, seemingly putting his all into pulling off a great performance but somehow making all the dancing, singing and bouncing around the stage look effortless. I particularly liked his scene when he’s first roller skating as a waiter in the cafe and his heartfelt conversation with the Reverend when trying to convince him to allow the prom.
The show was very energetic. Considering that dancing was banned in Bomont they seemed to get away with a lot of dancing while singing!
I didn’t realise that all the cast also played the music on various instruments. This was very impressive. When the show first opens some of the cast have saxophones and it looks like they could be miming but they’re not and most cast members then go on to play a variety of instruments throughout the show, often while also dancing and singing, which must be extra hard work. Those not present on the stage to act are often partially hidden away on a keyboard or playing an instrument under a bit of the set.
The set is cleverly used with a section in the middle that rotates for different scenes including street scenes and inside scenes such as the school, the church and the diner. It also incorporates two large keyboards under the edge parts of the set. I think a few more props would have helped to distinguish the settings a bit more at times as most were instantly recognisable but I was unsure of a few.
If I was picking fault with something I’d have to say that I found some of the songs over-staged on occasion, especially when the girls were singing. I also found it hard to understand what anyone was singing when there were a few people singing different things at the same time a couple of times. I could also see an instrument being played a couple of times but couldn’t hear it, particularly with the flute. I would put this down to more of a sound issue than an issue with the actors though.
Footloose is a real feel good musical with catchy and recognisable 80s songs including ‘Footloose’, ‘Holding Out For a Hero’ and Let’s Hear it for the Boy’. There’s a lot of teen angst going on but it’s all fairly innocuous stuff that can be sung and danced about. At the end, the whole cast stay on stage doing a mash up of most of the songs from the show and getting the audience up and joining in. I definitely left feeling happier than when I went in.
Rating: 4.5/5
Tickets cost from £17 to £32 (booking fees may apply).
Footloose is at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield from 29 August to 2 September 2017, for more information or to book tickets visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or call the box office on 0114 249 6000.
Lyceum Theatre, Norfolk St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 1DA | 0114 249 6000
