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The Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York
Footloose
musical by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford
November 15, 1999
Review by Andrew Yarrows
 
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Here I am, dutifully reviewing everything that I’ve seen so far in New York. Tonight I saw Footloose, last year’s film-to-stage spectacular, this year’s being the critically vilified Saturday Night Fever, which I will be seeing on November 21st and reporting back on.
First off, let me say that I am not a fan of this film-to-stage genre. Actually, let me clarify that. I am not a fan of this film soundtrack-to-stage genre, which is what the two musicals mentioned above are. Taking characters from a film and slapping them variously with songs featured on the soundtrack, even if the emotions they express at that particular moment are somewhat reflected in the mood of the song, is a risky business. For one thing, if the songs aren’t written by the same people, the score will sound haphazard at best. Such is the case with Footloose.
With new songs by Tom Snow and old, straight-of-the-soundtrack 80s classics like “Let’s Hear it for the Boy,” “Footloose,” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” the score is a wildly uneven collage of sounds and styles. We get rock, pop and just about everything else, including country, in the course of the show’s two hours. I admit, it’s great to hear old 80s favorites, but I’m not sure that “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” should ever belong on the Broadway stage, even if is does actually work in the context of the show. I have to hand it to the writers; they did a great job of making the songs fit into the plot and make sense, and Tom Snow’s new material is often quite strong, making up for the expected lapses of plot and character development that the pop ditties leave in their wake.
Despite the inherent faults of a musical whose source material is a now dated 1984 film and a wildly varied, hodge podge soundtrack of pop tunes, I had fun at Footloose. No, it’s not great theatre. But yes, it’s fun, and it manages to have a few nice moments, particularly where the often difficult choreography is concerned. I felt the energy of the cast bursting forth from the stage as they danced out numerous songs, including the title song (both at the start of the show and at its conclusion), “Let’s Hear it For the Boy” and others. And since the cast seemed to be having fun with the material, I was able to appreciate the show for what it is (a lot of fun and little substance), overlooking its many weaknesses. The orchestra, led by a lively (if not somewhat crazed looking) conductor, kept up its end of things; the music was right on, and the sound electric and fresh. That’s more than can be said of a few shows; sometimes I find that improper amplification leads to a noticeably stale or annoyingly shrill sound, but that wasn’t the case at Footloose. When the music needed to rock, it rocked. When it needed to lull gently along (which wasn’t often), it did. No complaints there.
In the lead role of Ren McCormack is Jeremy Kushnier, the lanky, leather-clad “teen” who is forced to move from his native Chicago to the one-horse town of Bomont, Illinois, when his parents separate and mother and son are left in financial dire straits. Kushnier is a fabulous dancer; several times his energy and ability wowed me. He also looks a tad menacing, too, with his punky hair and roughneck, Trainspotting-esque, heroine-addicted physique. Not that he’s on heroine, but he looks like he should be British, although I believe he’s Canadian. I guess you’ll have to rent Trainspotting to know what I’m talking about, because he definitely has that look going for him. Anyway, compared to the rest of the cast, Kushnier looks slightly too mature to be a senior in high school, but it’s easy to suspend disbelief for a show that isn’t exactly meant to be taken seriously. Kushnier’s vocals are strong, rounding out what seems like a dream role for someone of his many performance talents.
Sharing the spotlight with Kushnier is Jennifer Laura Thompson, a young lady with a rich, powerful voice and exceedingly bad hair. I don’t know whether she was going for the mid-1980s prom queen look, or if she has been going to a salon where everyone graduated cosmetology school in 1985 and hasn’t bothered to keep up with the latest styles, but it wasn’t good. I wondered for a while if it was really a wig, in which case the costume people should be taken out back and shot, but after the first act I assumed that no costumer could be quite that sadistic. The poor girl looked like something out of a Jordache jeans commercial! She looks great in her bio pic, too. I wonder what happened! Regardless, the girl can sing and gave her teenaged angst-ridden, popular-girl-with-problems character all she had.
Tom Plotkin, as Willard Hewitt, was a true highlight. Playing the dopey, straight-off-the-farm townie who wears tight jeans, work boots and flannel shirts to school (coming from rural Massachusetts, I know that there really are such types), he is a never-ending source of amusement. A cute subplot follows him as he is pursued by his wannabe girlfriend, Rusty, played by the strong-voiced Stacy Francis (whose low notes are about as low as they can go, and whose high notes raise the roof). The trouble is, he doesn’t (and can’t) dance, but with the help of Ren and a number of his friends, learning to dance-and ultimately to wind up happy with the forlorn, neglected and dance partnerless Rusty-becomes a priority.
The story of Footloose, despite its naivete and cartoonish nature, has a few very dark plot elements, including the fact that Reverend Shaw’s son was one of the victims, years earlier, of the fatal car crash that began his vendetta against teenage fun in his home town. Also, Ren’s fatherless home is another serious element, although it seems less genuine and more blatantly manipulative than the demons haunting the reverend’s character. But all that is pretty much beside the point anyway. The show almost solely concerns Ren McCormack’s struggle to bring dancing back to the town of Bomont, where the act has been banned by Reverend Shaw following the death of his son and other teens in a post-prom night car wreck. It’s a classic teens versus adults storyline, one prone to cheese, camp, and silliness. And it’s also very outdated. What town would ever ban dancing? You’d think they could have updated the storyline a tad, choosing a more contemporary, socially-relevant issue as the main focus of Ren’s challenge to authority. What about having condoms distributed in school, for example? Instead of having Reverend Shaw’s son die in a drunken joy ride, why not have him knocking up some girl after a party and winding up an alcoholic on welfare living in a trailer park-Shaw’s opposition to condoms in schools being the age old argument that free condoms equal encouragement to have sex. And, when Ren ultimately wins his battle against Shaw and gets his way, were this plot change actually made, the ending scene would surely be more interesting than a high school dance. Just something to think about.
Speaking of dancing, Footloose makes excellent use of it. The acrobatic, hip choreography by A. C. Ciulla is probably some of the better contemporary choreography I have seen on Broadway. It was lively, energetic, and rarely boring. That’s more than can be said for the show’s story; I found myself losing interest at many points. When a show is so often light and fun, it’s hard to become absorbed in the deeper, more serious plot points. I would almost rather have a constant barrage of toe-tapping songs and flashy dance sequences. Thankfully, with only a few exceptions, that what I got at Footloose.
The show’s lighting design impressed me. It was very colorful and flattering to most scenes. And the sets aren’t bad, either. Good use is made of the stage, from a creation of Reverend Shaw’s congregational church to his kitchen, a railroad bridge at night, the high school’s gymnasium, and the cheesy local teen hangout, Burger Blast. Incidentally, is this the first major Broadway show since Starlight Express to make use of roller-skates on stage?
Back to the cast… The other leads were all fine. Stephen Lee Anderson was a strong Reverend Shaw (I’d last seen him as the merciless prison guard in Paul Simon’s hideous The Capeman), and Mary Gordon Murray was quite enjoyable as his Martha Stewart-ish wife with a much more sympathetic view of the teenage community. Mary Gordon Murray, in a duet with Catherine Cox (who plays Ren’s mom, Ethel….does anyone name their children that anymore?) sings one of the better songs in what otherwise is an uneven, hit-or-miss pop score, the wonderfully emotional and moving “Learning to be Silent.” That’s the other curious thing about Footloose… The new songs, not drawn from the film’s soundtrack, are actually rather well written and strong, moving the show along and developing character as opposed to stopping it dead in its tracks solely for the sake of wild, audience-rousing dancing. But, in a show that’s all about dancing, I guess one can’t really complain about that. And I saw the show for free, so I definitely won’t complain!
-------Andy
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