Theater Reviews—

Sherman’s ‘Footloose’ Is Wildly

Entertaining For All Ages

By Julie Stern

SHERMAN — Director-choreographer-Pied Piper Lanny Mitchell has pulled off yet another of his summer miracles, involving dozens of adolescents and the occasional odd adult in the creation of a solid, finished, highly entertaining show. This time it’s the stage version of the movie tribute to teenage dancing, Footloose, which is in performances by The Sherman Players.

For those who have never seen the movie, the premise is that when his father abandons the family in order to embark on a permanent journey of self discovery, teenaged hero Ren and his mother are forced to leave their home in Chicago and move hundreds of miles away to the backwater hamlet of Beaumont. There they will have to rely on the grudging charity of righteous relatives, who will give them an apartment and a job, in return for conformity to the town’s puritanical social code.

The town is dominated by the Bible thumping preacher Reverend Shaw. The minister is idealistic enough to believe that he cares about his congregation, but his heart has been hardened by the death of his son, Bobby, in a car wreck on the way home from a dance in a neighboring town, five years ago.

Grieving over Bobby’s death, Shaw chose to blame it on dancing,  teenage music, and the pop culture in general, and he used his influence to persuade the town council to pass an ordinance forbidding any dancing in the town.

The high school principal, the wrestling coach and the council president are all solidly in Shaw’s corner. In fact the only person in town who seems to disagree with him is his smart, beautiful daughter Ariel, who acts out her rebellion by consorting with the local drug-dealer, high-school dropout-motorcycle hood, Chuck – a fellow so low that he has recently been evicted from the trailer park.

Enter Ren, as the mousse-haired, ear pierced, skater fashioned new kid in a town where everyone else wears jeans and cowboy hats. Using humor and quick wits, he gains the respect of his classmates and the interest of Ariel. Eventually he leads them all in a movement to overturn the hateful ordinance and bring the joy of dancing back to Beaumont. He even manages to win over the Reverend and restore him to the genuinely decent man he was, before the accident.

Geoffrey Payne and Samantha Mingione are delightfully cute and sassy as Ren and Ariel, clearly suited to be the alpha couple in any high school crowd.

The show is stuffed with high-spirited dance numbers, as well as some very appealing routines by the male and female teen ensembles. Led by Matthew Farina as Ren’s “aw-shucks” tongue-tied comic farmboy buddy Willard, the guys do a very funny number “Mama Says (You Can’t Back Down)” as well as the more athletic “Dancing is Not a Crime.”

The vision of high school social politics is nicely portrayed by the girls in “Somebody’s Eyes (are always on you)” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”

There are some insights that go beyond the sugary fluff of the fable, as well. In particular, Emma Fyffe and Nicole Thorp, as Ren and Ariels’ mothers, sing a duet called “Learning To Be Silent” about the cost of conformity for the sake of security, and Thomas Mulhare as Reverend Shaw sings a beautiful song about his love for his son.

Aaron Matthew Van Geersdaele is menacingly sexy as the brutal biker Chuck, who happily fades into the woodwork without having to be beaten up by anyone, because this is an upbeat, feel-good kind of entertainment.

Footloose is a great show to take your kids to. They will feel respected and understood, and you can enjoy the pride and energy that lights up the faces of the performers.

(Performances continue at Sherman Playhouse on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sunday afternoons at 3, until August 13.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors. Call 860-354-3622 for additional details or reservations.)