The renovation of the Muny’s upper plaza...
Read More
Everybody’s Footloose at the Muny this week
“Footloose” Cuts Loose With Fresh,
Young Talent on The Muny’s New Stage
by Pat Lindsey
What’s hotter than a July evening in St. Louis? It’s “Footloose,” a coming of age story of loss and rebellion that will make you want to dust off your Sunday shoes and get up and dance.
Based on the 1984 Kevin Bacon hit film by the same name, “Footloose” bursts onto the stage with an abundance of new, young talent who resonate with the audience with 1980s hit songs such as, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “Holding Out For a Hero,” and “Footloose.” These rising stars sing, dance, and act as rebellious teens who unite for their right to dance and be teenagers.
The story is about a high school senior named Ren McCormack who moves from Chicago with his mother to a small town called Bomont somewhere in the Midwest. Ren’s father has walked out on his family “to find himself” and Ren and his mother are left barely hanging on, so they move in with Ren’s aunt and uncle in Bomont.
Ren’s favorite past-time in Chicago had been going to the clubs to dance, but he soon finds himself in a small, backward town that has a law that bans dancing. The preacher of the local church, Rev. Moore, is the power and the law of Bomont. He has been grieving over the tragic loss of his teenage son and three other boys and, consequently, has established strict rules for his daughter, Ariel, and all the teens in town, to keep them safe.
Ariel, however, rebels against her father and is headed toward real trouble with undesirable friends when she teams up with Ren and other youth to protest against the dancing ban. The end of the school year is growing near and the Bomont seniors think it’s wrong that they are facing graduation without a prom. As hell seems to be breaking loose, the whole town ends up on their feet and dancing to the music that you’ll be singing into tomorrow.
The lead actors, Mason Reeves (Ren) seated in church pew, and Maggie Kuntz (second row behind Ren), are making their Muny debut in this production. Both are the whole package and destined to grace The Muny stage in the future. Some members of the audience could barely restrain themselves from getting up to dance when Khailah Johnson (Rusty) led the Company in “Let’s Hear It For the Boy.” She and her boyfriend, Willard Hewitt (Eli Mayer), win over the audience with their powerful voices and comedic flare.
Jeremy Kushnier, who plays the Rev. Shaw Moore, is blessed with a beautiful voice and a self-righteous persona, perfect for the role of the disciplinarian preacher. These are just several standouts in a multi-talented cast that is synchronized to create an electrifying and enjoyable night of toe-tapping to good songs in this coming of age tale.
It’s truly remarkable how The Muny has progressed a long way from painted scenery to phenomenal projected scenes of a warehouse, a boom box, a suspended railroad bridge above a river valley, a well-lit country home, a football field, a malt shop, and miles of country roads for bikers in this show. Even the confetti in the finale is projected on the screens! The creative team, directed by Christian Borle in his Muny debut, has done an excellent job of portraying the 1980s with 2019 technology on The Muny’s new stage.
“Footloose” has withstood the test of time. It is a feel-good musical that is filled with optimism and reminds us that love will get us through the tough times and give us hope for the future. It is playing at The Muny now through July 24. For tickets, go to muny.org or call 314-534-1111.
