Footloose the musical: no cold feet in the theater

From Nov. 20-23, Aragon put on its annual musical, “Footloose.” The play follows Ren McCormack, a boy from Chicago and an avid dancer who moves to the small town of Bomont after his father abandons his family. In Bomont, dancing is banned, and Ren at first feels isolated from the residents due to the rule and the conservative ways of the town. But McCormack campaigns to overturn the rule, facing a hostile minis-
ter and a town unwilling to change the rule. In the process, he makes friends and falls in love with Ariel Moore, the minister’s daughter, learns what happened to make others believe in these laws and comes to terms with his father’s abandonment of him.

“‘Footloose’ is upbeat,” said Aragon Drama Director Shane Smuin. “Some musicals are very deep and sad, and ‘Footloose’ has [its] serious moments, but it’s overall very fun.”

The rehearsal process for Aragon’s musical each year starts at the beginning of the school year.

“The first four or five weeks is just [dancing] and singing,” Smuin said. “October is when I come in and start putting all of the pieces together: the vocals, the dance and the blocking and the set pieces.”

The task for the performers has many components, one such being learning choreography.

“Personally, I have a hard time dancing because choreography is just hard to remember,” said Gianni Petty, a freshman who played Garvin. “Singing is easier for me.”

The technical crew takes set pieces on and offstage and manages the sound and light.

“[Tech] crew definitely has a lot less visibility to people since they’re behind stage,” said freshman and lightboard operator Sebastien Battles. “But they’re still doing all the work behind the scenes. Stage crew is moving all of the props and sets around. Booth people are the light board, the spotlights, the sounds … making sure all of the audio and the visuals work.”

Many people’s view of the show was positive. “‘Footloose’ is a great choice for a musical, because it’s about dancing,” said freshman Sophia Barizon. “The choreography and musical numbers seemed great.”

Freshman Nicholas Jones had a favorable view of the show.

“The singing and dancing was really good,” Jones said. “The actors were creative [and] I really liked the story. I liked how it incorporated dancing into a nice message.”

The show drew large crowds.

“We saw the most audience Friday,” Petty said. “The seats were pretty much sold out completely.”

Despite being set in the 1980s, the musical explores themes of children versus parents, country versus urban areas, old versus new and religion versus youth, but it also shows that these divisions aren’t as distinct as people may think.

“The theme of fitting in a new place still applies to anytime,” Jones said.

Similarly, Smuin believes “Footloose” continues to be pertinent.

“[The musical] is still relevant today,” Smuin said. “It gives people a chance to come into the theater and hopefully go back out into the real world with a more compassionate heart.”

Drama’s next performance will be the Young Playwrights Project on Jan. 31.