The blockbuster Kevin Bacon movie Footloose was adapted to the stage by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie, and is now on the stage at Coronado School of the Arts where Director Barbara Wolf and company make use of their impressive New Theatre for only the second time. That theatre is full of some of San Diego’s finest high school talents, for many of whom Footloose will be their senior swan song. But they make it a good one.

Charles Evans, Jr. leads the way with a dynamic performance as Ren, handling the role’s vocal and dancing demands with flair. He is paired with Jessica Lerner as preacher’s kid Ariel Moore. Jessica has the rock vocals for the role, and captures the uninhibited, rebellious Ariel with brief glimpses into the insecure person underneath. We get a good look at the uninhibited, rebellious Ariel in The Girl Gets Around, where Jessica and her bad boy boyfriend Chuck Cranston (performed by one of the great male singers around, James Maslow) together heat up a scene that Ariel better hope her father never sees.

Said father, Reverend Moore, is played by Collin Bell who often appears to channel John Lithgow’s sensational performance in the film version, Collin’s voice almost eerily like Lithgow at times. His body language is stiff, which seems to fit the character who is uncomfortable with so many of the things going on around him. His difficult, soul-searching solo at the end is terrific. At his side is his wife Vi played by Morgan Reeves who radiates an aura of gentleness with her voice and manner, and a deep heart as we see in her nice duet with Ren’s soft-spoken mother (Catherine Miller). But she can also become determined when the situation calls for it.

Performed April 27 - May 5, 2007.

Rob Hopper
National Youth Theatre

Ren McCormack: