`FOOTLOOSE' TAPS ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM FOR STAGE MUSICAL.Byline: Julio Martinez Julio Martinez is the weekly host of KPFK Radio’s Arts in Review, is a theatre critic for Daily Variety and Features Editor of Latin Heat Magazine. His articles have appeared in Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Backstage West, L.A. Special to the Daily News ``Footloose'' the musical covers the same territory as the hit Kevin Bacon-starring feature film while establishing its own credentials in the chronicling of a cocky lad from Chicago and a repressed re·pressed adj. Being subjected to or characterized by repression. small town in the heartland who come of age together. The enhanced Tom Snow (music)/Dean Pitchford (lyrics) score offers no additional showstoppers equal to the impact of the film's title song or the Academy Award-nominated, ``Let's Hear It for the Boy,'' but does manage to maintain the spirit of Pitchford's original screenplay. Director Walter Bobbie, who co-adapted the show for the stage with Pitchford, skillfully maneuvers the action in and around John Lee Beatty's clever, modular set pieces, creating a nonstop sense of youth-driven enthusiasm and energy. The stage play varies little from the film. Deserted by his father, mildly rebellious big city lad Ren McCormack (Joe Machota) and his mother, Ethel (Marsha Waterbury), move in with relatives in the decidedly small-minded Midwestern community of Bomont. Ren immediately manages to antagonize the town's elders, including Bomont's all-powerful minister, Shaw Moore (Daren Kelly), who years earlier had authored a civic edict A decree or law of major import promulgated by a king, queen, or other sovereign of a government. An edict can be distinguished from a public proclamation in that an edict puts a new statute into effect whereas a public proclamation is no more than a declaration of a law outlawing public dancing within the city limits. Buoyed by his developing romantic interest in the minister's daughter, Ariel (Niki Scalera), Ren marshals the support of his fellow students to petition the city council and the minister to lift the dancing ban. The evolving relationship between Ren and Ariel is made palpable by the emotion-charged interaction of Machota and Scalera. They exude ex·ude v. To ooze or pass gradually out of a body structure or tissue. a physical/romantic chemistry that turns the second act duet, ``Almost Paradise,'' into a haunting ode to young love. They are balanced beautifully by the comedic shenanigans shenanigans Noun, pl Informal 1. mischief or nonsense 2. trickery or deception [origin unknown] of Ren's bantam rooster rooster its crowing at dawn heralds each new day. [Western Folklore: Leach, 329] See : Dawn rooster symbol of maleness. [Folklore: Binder, 85] See : Virility of a buddy, Willard (Christian Borle), and his monumentally awkward courtship of Ariel's hot-to-trot girlfriend, Rusty (Stephanie St. James). St. James' Rusty wins her man with a powerful, pulsating rendition of the best song in the score, the aforementioned, ``Let's Hear It for the Boy.'' The adults fare just as well. Kelly maintains a believable emotional balance as the truly kind and good-hearted man of God who has been driven to intractable emotional isolation from his wife and daughter by the accidental death of his teen-age son. His awakening to the true needs of the world around him is expressed beautifully in the cathartic cathartic (kəthär`tĭk): see laxative. , ``I Confess.'' The Facts What: ``Footloose foot·loose adj. Having no attachments or ties; free to do as one pleases. footloose Adjective free to go or do as one wishes Adj. 1. .'' Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd. When: Performances at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 5. Tickets: $32 to $57. Call (213) 365-3500. Our rating: Three stars |
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