Footloose

  In 1984 Kevin Bacon starred in a dance film that became iconic for its day. The film was met with so much enthusiasm and iconic value that eventually it was met with the theatre world and interpreted for the stage. Footloose the musical was finally introduced in 1998.
   Footloose is centered around a small town controversy. As new student Ren leaves the big city to start anew in Beaumont with his mother. A cold attitude and the city slicker lifestyle clashes with the demure sensibility of a religious small town that has reformed it's laws to keep the children from rebelling or acting out of turn. After an unfortunate car accident where a few bright students allowed for poor judgement and alcohol to end their lives and bring about reform to the town, dancing was outlawed. Dances were cancelled on all levels due to the deaths of the four people in the car. Ren, with his rebellious attitude and diverse outlook on life, partners up with the preacher's equally rebellious daughter and a few close friends in an attempt to change the social ideals and throw a dance to show the town the innocence in the act. Long story short, it works out.
    The movie was eventually interpreted for the stage. Now, the play has a reputation for being a crowd favourite that is typically done by large casts, especially high schools. One high school of which was my high school, performed a quality rendition of Footloose in 2009. As any school does, we compared our selves very often to other schools when it came to the performance of any like show but footloose was always a special show and in our opinions, no high school did it better. With that mentality, the new movie just recently came out and the expectations were below surface level. Supposedly the movie is entertaining but in the true act of thespianship, we all talked sh*t until our throats were sore and our tongues were tied because no one messes with the originals. Is the show recommended? Sure, it's entertaining. Is the show as good as the classic? The world may never know