Entertainment

Footloose at the Millennium Theatre: a great way to cut loose

Footloose is playing at the Millennium Theatre in Derry until June 4. Picture by Matt Martin
Footloose is playing at the Millennium Theatre in Derry until June 4. Picture by Matt Martin Footloose is playing at the Millennium Theatre in Derry until June 4. Picture by Matt Martin

I KNEW Footloose was going to be an interesting one as I walked through Derry behind a large group of middle aged women sporting matching belly tops, neon head bands and leg warmers dancing towards the Millennium Forum on skyscraper heels.

I was but a girl when Kevin Bacon gyrated his way onto the silver screen in the iconic movie which tells the story of a city boy who moves to a country town where dancing has been banned. The anti-fun brigade banned rock n roll and dance because of the death of four teenagers killed returning from a night out. I loved the movie, I loved Kevin Bacon and I was slightly nervous about the notion that a mere mortal could channel that spiky haired, skinny jean clad, high kicking, angst ridden, rebellious teenage energy.

I needn't have worried. Lead actor Luke Baker owned the part. And stars such as Nolan sister Maureen as the reverend's wife Vi and 911's Lee Brennan as the slack jawed yokel Willard added extra star appeal, real comedy moments and blistering solos.

Footloose the Musical was a strange hybrid of movie, original musical and nostalgia trip. Eighties hits such as Holding Out For a Hero and Let's Hear it for the Boy merged with slower ballads that allowed Maureen Nolan to remind us why her and her sisters were so big in Japan.

But it was the dancing that really stole the show. There was plenty of those classic on the tip-toes, arms swinging, head bopping moves favoured by Wham back in the day, but also some seriously choreography involving tyres, a half a mustang car and roller blades that kept the audience on their toes. After all it was a musical about rebellion and who amongst us hasn't expressed their teenage angst through the medium of modern dance?

Footloose did tend to get a bit wordy and profound at times, tackling issues such as parental grief and abandonment which took some of the audience to a place they might not have wanted to go. I could tell – by the whooping and swinging of fists in cowboy lasso motion above the head - that this audience were most content when Lee from 911 was gyrating atop a mustang in nothing but his cowboy boots and gold hot pants.

Lee played the town fool perfectly. He started the show with two awkward left feet and rounded it off busting out boy band moves that would have sent even Boyzone running for their mammies.

Footloose was a two and a half hour roller coaster ride of singing, dancing, domestic abuse, small town frustration, love, violence, lust, loss, angst and joy. Perhaps it was first night nerves, but I felt the show was a slow starter. But the crazy climax, with the preacher – who once thought rock music was the work of the devil – changing his tune, rocking an electric guitar and bringing the entire town to the dance floor, as well as the entire audience to their feet, more than made up for it.

At one stage I felt the floor of the Millennium Forum was in mortal danger during the mayhem inducing title track Footloose, such was the level of enthusiastic dancing amongst audience members. I had contemplated announcing an all-out ban on bouncing and perilous 80s arm swinging motions, but the cast had whipped the audience up into such a frenzy I thought I might have been lynched.

Footloose is a great show, with a great cast, complimented by great music and dancing and was a great way to cut loose.

Footloose is at the Millennium Forum until Saturday June 4. For more information and to purchase tickets log on to www.millenniumforum.co.uk