Footloose: Youth Edition was reviewed at Grand Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
While Footloose: Youth Edition, presented by Cup and Dagger, is not a professional production, there is something particularly appealing about encountering the show in a school/youth production context where the rough edges make the virtues of the material more visible.
Tackling the beloved stage adaptation by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie set to Tom Snow’s music, the young performers throw themselves into the familiar story of Ren McCormack and the small town where dancing has been banned, bringing an enthusiasm that is often more infectious than the stagecraft itself.
The company features Oscar Evans-Pollard as a promising lead, ably supported by energised performances from Imy Stuart, Eleanor Graeflin von Arnim and Leyna Traboulsi.
Additionally, Toby Scott, Chloe Davids and Lydia Arnander-Ritchings work hard to bring sound emotional truth to families at the centre of the town’s overwhelming grief.
What emerges is a reminder of how effective Footloose remains as a piece of movie musical exploitation (one of the best of the sub genre), possessing exactly the ingredients that made the 1984 film such a phenomenon: teenage rebellion, generational conflict, romance, repression and an excuse to keep putting irresistible songs and dance numbers on stage.
Although the production lacks polish, it demonstrates why Footloose deserves more attention than it gets, proving that sometimes an amateur performance can be enough to reveal the bones of a good show.
Patrick Honoré
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