Footloose The Musical at the Blackpool Opera House Review
Footloose The Musical
Opera House, Blackpool
19-24 September 2016
www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk
Reviewed by Catherine Joyce
The famous 80’s movie Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon, has been skilfully adapted for the stage by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie and is currently touring the UK. We went to see the production at the world famous Blackpool Opera House, an impressive theatre seating almost 3000 in the centre of Blackpool. The theatre is easy to get to with plenty of parking nearby, either on ground level or multi storey car parks. We paid £3 to park on a nearby car park that was only a few minutes walk away from the theatre.
Produced by the Sell a Door Theatre Company, the show stars Gareth Gates as Willard and Maureen Nolan as Vi Moore, the reverend’s wife. The play, which is based on a true story, follows teenager Ren McCormack, played by Luke Baker, after he moves from Chicago to Bomont, a small Midwestern town where dancing is banned. He is soon spotted by Ariel, the rebellious daughter of strict minister Rev. Shaw Moore and courageously battles to abolish the ban and succeeds in staging the first high school prom.
The entire cast was very strong and performed their roles with energy and enthusiasm. The show was very well choreographed by Matthew Cole making full use of the set for some impressive dance moves.
The real stars of the show for me were Luke Baker and Hannah Price playing teenagers Ren McCormack and Ariel Moore. Footloose is Hannah’s first professional role and judging by her performance she is certainly someone to watch out for in the future. Surprisingly Gareth Gates, who gave a strong comic performance as Willard has the lead in only one song. Where Luke plays the role of a determined worldly wise young man Gareth is excellent playing the naive country boy.
Music is obviously central to the show with around half the numbers from the original film and the rest written by Tom Snow with lyrics by Dean Pritchard. The cast play all the instruments on stage, which whilst undoubtedly impressive was also distracting at times. At the out of town dance it makes perfect sense to have a band on stage but why would the characters be playing instruments at the town council meeting?
The Opera House has a large stage and this was filled with a well-designed set which quickly transformed from church to school to burger bar and back again. Costumes were great bringing a real 80’s feel, the ladies in the audience particularly enjoying the part where Gareth is stripped down to just a pair of tiny denim shorts in the Bonnie Tyler song Holding out for a Hero which has to be my favourite part of the show!
We felt that the show was a little slow to get going which was more to do with the story rather than the performance of the cast. Following the interval the pace began to step up culminating in an energetic finale where the entire cast took to the stage for the high school dance. The audience finally got into the spirit of the night and rose to their feet for a final rendition of Footloose.
We had a great night out and it was good hearing the 80’s songs again!
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £15 to £29.50 (booking fees may apply).
Footloose is at the Opera House in Blackpool until 24 September 2016. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 856 1111.
Winter Gardens & Opera House Theatre, 97 Church Street, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 1HL
