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Footloose rolled into Birmingham so I had to grab a ticket and see this production. I originally saw Footloose years ago, but this was a different production with a different cast so I had to see if the original I saw was better.
This production sizzled the spiciness levels up, in parts it reminded me of Rock of Ages and also of Grease, it has an energetic and vibrant cast.
It’s been directed by Racky Plews, with choreography from Matthew Coles, design by Sara Perks and musical supervision by Mark Crossland.
The premise of the story is that Ren- a city boy, thinks life is pretty bad when he’s forced to move to rural America. But his world comes to a standstill when he arrives at Bomont to find dancing and rock music are banned. Taking matters into his own hands, soon Ren has all hell breaking loose, footloose!
Scenery and production of this show were to a high standard and the creative use of props and scenery is admired, lighting, costume design and the way backstage crew blended in was really thought out.
I felt the audience could have given more laughter to some of the jokes on the evening I attended.
The show itself does have darker themes running underneath the show, but this show is very uplifting and hopeful.
The cast featured Jake Quickenden and Darren Day who gave excellent performances. Sometimes I worry with celebrities they are put in, because of their status rather than ability to perform, but no hesitations here. Joshua Hawkins played the role of Ren superbly as did Lucy Munden as Ariel, I personally think Lucy would be excellent in Rock Of Ages. Geri Allen also gave a flawless performance in her roles in this production. Tom Mussell played chuck and gave a very convincing performance. I think Oonagh Cox played the role of Rusty superbly. I must give the hats off to Jess Barker and I fell in love with her character Wendy Jo, slightly ditzy but loveable.
Was this show better than the previous tour I had seen? By gosh, yes it was, it had superb lines in, comedy, fantastic choreography and excellent performances from a brilliant cast. The last production the role of Willard was a bit restrained but in this production, he was definitely a leading cast member. This show had pizzazz and charisma and strong characters demonstrated by the cast.
The audience gave them the biggest cheer/ standing ovation I have seen and the cast lapped this up. I wasn’t sure what the actual end point of the show was as the audience just wanted them to keep going and a few encore’s were had.
If you are unsure of whether to stay in or go out and see footloose, definitely choose the footloose option!
I absolutely rate this show as something to be seen.
