THEATRE REVIEWS

Footloose is a light, but impressively performed entertaining few hours. Once you get over the, at times, excruciatingly high pitched American accents it’s hard not to find yourself singing along and, when asked, dancing in the aisles.

Chicago is the setting of the first scene but the musical soon moves along to the quieter Bomont where the influential church minister, Rev Shaw Moore (Oliver Tobias) has banned public dancing. New kid on the block, Ren McCormick (Chris Jarvis) cannot understand the acceptance of the ban and questions the community, thus causing a divide.

Sheffield born Rachel Wooding headed the cast as Ariel Moore and belted out hits, including Holding out for a Hero and of course Footloose, with an amazing amount of energy and skill. Special mention must be reserved for Rusty’s (Cassidy Janson) rendition of Let’s Hear it for the Boy that was just brilliant and cleverly accompanied by the hapless Willard’s (Taylor James) amusing lack of dance skills.

As a fan of the eighties film, I must admit that I was worried that the stage show might leave me feeling a bit let down. Although the male vocals were sometimes hard to hear, by the interval I had succumbed to the eye-catching dance routines, all executed around an excellent set with direction by Paul Kerryson. The audience all left in high spirits and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one humming footloose for the next 24 hours. © SG

“Footloose” is in Sheffield on the 29th March to 3rd April, 2004 and then continues a nationwide tour.