FOOTLOOSE, the Musical, at The Walker School

Even if, like me, you never saw the 1984 film, you don't need a roadmap to see where the story of Footloose: the Musical is going. That didn't spoil the trip when I saw the production at The Walker School last week. You could lean in to enjoy the journey with young actors who displayed discipline and heart.

The story is constructed on a classic template. We're greeted by "Footloose," a high energy opening number, recognizable from the first riff played by the excellent pit orchestra. The central figure of the dance is Ren McCormack (Ashwin Sequiera), an appealing street-smart Chicago boy getting ribbed by his friends for moving to rural Bomont, Texas. In affectionate banter with his mother Ethel (Bonamy Brantley), we learn that his father left them, she can't support them, and they'll be staying with family in a tiny town.

A series of songs lays out the rest of the situation: the town "On Any Sunday" will be worshipping with the stern Reverend Shaw Moore (Bill Li), but down at the burger joint, his daughter Ariel (Kiely Gilbert) dances in red cowboy boots while the local toughs sing "She Gets Around." At his new school, Ren learns that the town council, led by the Reverend, forbids dancing, and he protests, "I Can't Stand Still."  We foresee how Ren, like the eponymous Music Man of a classic musical, will stand up to the killjoy council, bring new life to the town, and find love himself in the process.


As a teacher in Walker's Middle School, my greatest pleasure isn't the story, but how these kids -- some of whom I remember as sixth graders -- embody their roles. For instance, junior Hailey Noel, playing the Reverend's wife Vi, sings knowingly of "Learning to Be Silent." She's joined on stage, in separate areas, separate chairs, by sophomore Brantley and senior Gilbert, to form a trio of disaffected women, all the more affecting for a kind of split vision: we know that these are kids, acting, and they know we know, yet we're all committed to the characters and their stories. When Ariel and Rusty (freshman Lily Berry) sing "Let's Hear it for the Boy" while Rusty's shy, clumsy boyfriend Willard (sophomore Toby Allers) learns to dance, it's not just a gag, it's a joy. And I never thought I'd care about "Almost Paradise," perhaps the eightiest of all eighties love duets, but I teared up when Ren and Ariel, in a nook under the town bridge, share their deepest feelings and sing the song to each other.


Everything in the story hinges on the moment we know must come, when the young man confronts the stern father.  The actors made it real.  By this point in the second act, Sequeira has projected spontaneity even in choreographed movement, empathy and sincerity in his scenes.  Though no older than Sequeira, Li has seemed throughout the show to be carrying a weight of responsibilities and disappointments that make him old.  When the midnight confrontation between Ren and the Reverend reaches an impasse, and the older man turns in the doorway saying, "I want to be alone," Ren observes, "Excuse me, Sir... you already are." Li's whole body communicated defeat as he sank into a chair and confessed his helplessness to Sequira. It wasn't two senior boys pretending, but a life-saving moment, one I'll cherish.


Months of after-school rehearsals in Katie Arjona's dance studio, in Samantha Walker's chorus room, and on Bill Shreiner's supple, adaptable set of brick and corrugated tin, showed in the ensemble's precise athletic moves, their harmony, and their commitment to the various supporting roles they played.

And, have I said, they were funny? With buddies, Toby Allers sings a hilarious country song "Mama Says" with a memorable refrain, "Once you've driven up a mountain, you can't back down." While the girls in the show sing that they're "Holding Out for a Hero," the young men in the show jumped up on cafe tables to pose like Mr. Universe, an image that, days later, still makes me smile.

FOOTLOOSE, THE MUSICAL. Stage adaptation by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie, based on the original screenplay by Dean Pitchford. Lyrics by Dean pitchford, music by Tom Snow, additional music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins, and Jim Steinman. Director and Choreographer Katie Arjona, Musical Director and Conductor Todd Motter, Vocal Director Samantha Walker, Scenic Designer Bill Schreiner. Performance by students of The Walker School at the school's Coca-Cola Family Auditorium, Thursday, November 14, 2019.