Totally loose... footloose...!
Towards the end of the school year last year I auditioned to be in a summer theatre program at La Canada Highschool, called the Foothill Summer Theatre Program. They really liked me and wanted me to be in the ensemble with a minor speaking part. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I had other plans come up at Van Nuys high and I became unable to attend the program. I'm sort of glad I didn't go, because I would have gotten lost in all of those kids talents.
Sothis summer, the show that Foothill did was, "Footloose", which is the story of a boy from Chicago [Ren] who's father recently left him and his mother [Ethel] so they move into a small town, Bomot, where dancing is outlawed, thanks to an accident in which the preacher's [Reverand Shaw] son was killed. He of course wants to party and dance all the time and believes that this law, as Mr. Chandler would say, is "phoney bologna". But of course he falls in love with the preacher's daughter [Ariel], who is what any preacher's daughter is- a bad girl. Ren makes a lot of trouble in this small town, which is what attracts Ariel to him. There's a lot of subplotting with Rusty, Ariel's friend, and Willard, Ren's friend, where they have their tiny romance too. Anyway, so at the end of the show dancing is allowed again and all is well. If you really want to know the whole plot, just watch the movie. Basically it's a fluffy plot, and if it doesn't have good acting to carry it, it's a terribly long and boring show.
Thankfully, this show had the good acting to carry it. There were some outstanding performances that totally blew me away. Both Kristen Williams who played Ethel, and Megan Arial who played Vi [the preacher's wife] had amazing voices and amazing acting. The two leads, Jon Harrison who played Ren was good, and Lindsay Styler who played Ariel was good, but both weren't knocking my socks off. However, the two 2nd main characters just had that prescence and they were Dani White who played Rusty (and should've gotten the lead) and Drew Carroll who played Willard (who was absolutely adorable and hilarous). Everyone else in the cast was also phenomenal and there were very few bad performances.
The sets, by Dennis Kull, and lighting, by Justin Eick, was very minimum and bare, really nothing to take note of. The sound was done by Les Harrison and Jeremy Satchell of Hollywood Sound Systems (who did our sound for Grease) and that was very good, and clear, and loud. I was also gratefull that we showed up an hour early (by accident) and I was given a tour of the sound system, things like how to put on a body mic and how they did their music up. The costumes, done by Besty Ross... I mean Betsy Roth, were also good and they really communicated the 80's vibe well. Overall the show had a lot of pizzaz and a lot of talent. There are two more performances today, and if I had nothing to do, I would totally go.
Sothis summer, the show that Foothill did was, "Footloose", which is the story of a boy from Chicago [Ren] who's father recently left him and his mother [Ethel] so they move into a small town, Bomot, where dancing is outlawed, thanks to an accident in which the preacher's [Reverand Shaw] son was killed. He of course wants to party and dance all the time and believes that this law, as Mr. Chandler would say, is "phoney bologna". But of course he falls in love with the preacher's daughter [Ariel], who is what any preacher's daughter is- a bad girl. Ren makes a lot of trouble in this small town, which is what attracts Ariel to him. There's a lot of subplotting with Rusty, Ariel's friend, and Willard, Ren's friend, where they have their tiny romance too. Anyway, so at the end of the show dancing is allowed again and all is well. If you really want to know the whole plot, just watch the movie. Basically it's a fluffy plot, and if it doesn't have good acting to carry it, it's a terribly long and boring show.
Thankfully, this show had the good acting to carry it. There were some outstanding performances that totally blew me away. Both Kristen Williams who played Ethel, and Megan Arial who played Vi [the preacher's wife] had amazing voices and amazing acting. The two leads, Jon Harrison who played Ren was good, and Lindsay Styler who played Ariel was good, but both weren't knocking my socks off. However, the two 2nd main characters just had that prescence and they were Dani White who played Rusty (and should've gotten the lead) and Drew Carroll who played Willard (who was absolutely adorable and hilarous). Everyone else in the cast was also phenomenal and there were very few bad performances.
The sets, by Dennis Kull, and lighting, by Justin Eick, was very minimum and bare, really nothing to take note of. The sound was done by Les Harrison and Jeremy Satchell of Hollywood Sound Systems (who did our sound for Grease) and that was very good, and clear, and loud. I was also gratefull that we showed up an hour early (by accident) and I was given a tour of the sound system, things like how to put on a body mic and how they did their music up. The costumes, done by Besty Ross... I mean Betsy Roth, were also good and they really communicated the 80's vibe well. Overall the show had a lot of pizzaz and a lot of talent. There are two more performances today, and if I had nothing to do, I would totally go.