River View students ready to perform ‘Footloose’
River View High School performing arts students present this year’s spring musical, “Footloose,” a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film.
This will be the eighth show Mary McMullen drama director and drama club advisor has directed at River View High School. That includes “Little Mermaid” which she co-directed with Debbie English.
Dawn Anglin is the vocal director when they have live music and Keith Watson oversees the music. McMullen is a professional costume designer as well as a full time freelance costume designer. She is mentoring a student for this show to work on the costumes so that she can just stay with the director role.
“Our group has grown this year,” McMullen said. “Last year we did ‘Annie’ with about 21 kids which is a feat in and of itself. The students were incredible, picked up the banner and went with it. I always like to look at the group as a whole, what kind of voices we have, the kind of personalities we have, backgrounds, all that. The vibe of the group and how they work together.”
McMullen has done “Footloose” twice and loves the show.
“The story behind it is so touching,” she said. “A lot of people when they hear ‘Footloose,’ they think dancing. The person who wrote the movie ‘Footloose’ and the lyrics for those popular songs worked with a director and producer in New York to get it made into a stage musical. How I see the show is that it is less about a big dancing spectacle as it is about a town that needs healing.”
There is no dancing allowed in the town for the last five years because of a tragic car accident on the Potawney Bridge. When teenager Ren McCormack and his mom move from the big city of Chicago to the small town of Bomont he can’t quite believe he’s living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. The Rev. Shaw Moore has convinced the town to outlaw dancing, which Ren finds unbelievable. With the help of the Ariel (the reverend’s daughter) and Willard (a country boy who becomes his best friend), Ren convinces the reverend to let the teenagers dance, and in the process helps the town to heal from a tragedy that affected them all.
“Ren meets Ariel the preacher’s daughter,” McMullen said. “It is a very real story. A lot of the content will hit very close to home for some people. Everybody knows the songs from the past few years. There are some very touching songs which are going to be new. It’s an important journey for the kids to go through, giving them something that has a little meat to it. It is any small town happening now. It was originally from the 80s with songs like ‘Holding Out for a Hero,’ ‘Let’s Hear it for the Boy,’ ‘I’m Free,’ ‘Heaven Help Me’ and obviously ‘Footloose.’ Most of the songs that were in the movie are in the show plus some new ones.”
The cast includes more than 30 students on stage, a backstage crew, and many adult volunteers from the community. The music boosters along with generous support from the community helped support this production. Students also come on Saturdays to work on the set.
“We have a great team here at River View, wonderful parent volunteers and some alumni came back to help during the week of the show,” McMullen said.
Ella Casey plays Ren’s Aunt Lulu the town gossip and part of the town council.
“She is like the town newspaper,” Casey said. “She does not give Ren any chance at all. She believes the gossip about him.”
Casey is working on costumes as well for part of her senior project. She started with hemming and doing measurements for the senior choir at home and as the year went on, she started doing costumes for “Footloose.”
“I’m minoring in theater at college and thought this would be a good experience, so I jumped on the opportunity,” Casey said. “They’re going to have matching Bomont t-shirts, the reverend will be dressed nice, we borrowed a local church’s choir robes and I’m going to wear my mom’s prom dress. A handful of cast members are doing that. My character Lulu is going to wear something like a 50s house dress.”
Bree Washington’s character is Ariel the preacher’s daughter. She was dating Chuck the town bad guy until she got into a relationship with Ren who is her other love interest. Chuck is a little abusive. Ren comes in and Chuck doesn’t like it. They have a fight scene. Ariel helps Ren with getting the town counsel to allow everyone to dance again. Washington has done musicals all four years of her high school career. If she decides to pursue it, performing arts would be part of something she’d like to do in her college career.
“Being on stage is a really good experience for anyone interested in singing or dancing or just wanting to break out of their shell,” Washington said. “Being on stage with everyone watching you is a little intimidating but it’s a great experience to open up and show people you can do it. Definitely something I will keep in my memory book forever.”
Sheldon Stotts plays Willard Hewitt, Ren’s best friend.
“I’m the good guy, pretty much the comic relief,” Stotts said. “My character can’t dance so he goes through a couple of dances and a scene where he does learn how to dance. It is fun to have some freedom in the dance numbers because I really don’t know how to dance. This is my fourth production at River View. I didn’t have a big role. I enjoyed being a background character but it’s also fun being up front. I have a solo in the second act singing ‘Mamma Says,’ it’s really funny. It is fun to build a team and a family to produce something not only for us, but for the community to enjoy. That’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done here in high school. I’m thinking of going into music education for college.”
Alex Courtright plays Rev. Shaw More.
“I originally wanted to be Willard but after watching other productions of ‘Footloose’ I figured this part would fit me best,” Courtright said. “At the start technically I’m the villain in the play. Once I have a couple conversations I start to lighten up. It’s my first time in a play on stage but it’s been a blast so far.”
Dalyn Lemon play Ren McCormack.
“Last year I was at Indian Valley, and I did ‘Wizard of Oz’ and a play called ‘Murder on the 518.’ It’s really fun. Ren is the new guy in town who is fighting the law against dancing. I am trying to get the town to get rid of that law. I’m just a kid trying to get through life. His dad left him as a child and his mother is struggling with stuff too. The only time I dance is during shows and this part kind of brought that out. And I am learning how to roller skate because I have to roller skate in this show. The cast and other helpers spent a lot of time building this set on the stage and I can’t wait to see how it goes.”
Tickets for this year’s spring musical, “Footloose” are $8 for the show only or $18 for a show and dinner combo for adults and $13 for children under 10. Performances are Friday and Saturday, April 28-29 at River View High School in the auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Dinner is from 5-7 p.m. Tickets can be pre-purchased online at https://www.onthestage.tickets/river-view-high-school-dept-of-music.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
