'Footloose' To Be Performed At Coleytown Middle School This Weekend

Information from Coleytown Company:

WESTPORT, CT — It’s almost time to cut loose and kick off those Sunday shoes!

Coleytown Company, the stage production group at Coleytown Middle School, has announced that its annual spring production for 2024 will be Footloose, the musical stage adaption of the wildly popular movie that premiered in 1984. The production, with a cast comprised entirely of students from 6th through 8th grade, will have a four-performance run from April 5th through April 7th.

The original Footloose musical enjoyed over 700 performances on Broadway through 2000. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Coleytown Company is excited to bring this high-energy, pop-rock musical to its stage this spring.

If you’ve forgotten the infamous storyline headlined by Kevin Bacon, here is a quick refresher: A teenage boy from Chicago, Ren, moves to a small town named Bomont where he is shocked to learn that rock & roll and dancing have been made illegal. Ren loves dancing and is not shy about showing off all his moves. He quickly makes friends, falls in love, and tries to invoke change. From the influential Reverend Shaw to an over-protective boyfriend Chuck, Ren has his work cut out for him. Together with a committed circle of friends led by a mama’s boy named Willard (who needs to learn to dance himself!) and his devoted girlfriend Rusty, Ren commits to bringing back the school dance and the drama unfolds from there.

With a talented cast of students, daily rehearsals are well underway. Footloose is a challenging, two-act production that stretches the students across singing, acting and dancing. Coleytown Company Director Ben Frimmer shares, "This is the 90’s version of Footloose which pulls out some of the songs sung by the older characters and leaves the focus on the younger ones. We staged Footloose at Coleytown in 2002 and it was a sellout hit. Twelve years later we're revisiting this piece with a full team of professional designers and our amazing Choreographer with 5 Broadway shows to her credit. I can't wait to see this piece fully produced on our stage again.”

The soundtrack of Footloose has long been a crowd favorite too with songs like Footloose and Let’s Hear It for the Boy, once topping the Billboard Music Charts. With music by Tom Snow (among others) and lyrics by Dean Pitchford & Kenny Loggins, the Coleytown Middle School production includes all of the original musical’s 18 songs, performed by students alongside a professional full pit orchestra. Other popular songs include: Holding Out For a Hero, I Can’t Stand Still, Almost Paradise, Mama Says...the list goes on and on! Choreographer Aimee Turner remarks, “The 80's were a hayday for music videos centered on dancing. The music really lends itself to pull from that inspiration - Michael and Janet Jackson, Madonna, Paula Abdul. Being able to work with the students on choreography has been a blast and hopefully many of their parents will recognize a few steps!”

Working alongside a full staff of professional designers, Footloose is also supported by a dedicated student Tech Crew comprised of 7th and 8th graders. The Tech Crew presents an unparalleled learning opportunity that spans set building, painting, prop creation and costumes. After submitting a thoughtful application complete with an essay and teacher recommendations, students were carefully selected for the Tech Crew to ensure everything behind-the-scenes operates seamlessly.

Be sure to mark your calendar to enjoy this entertaining production! Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 8th and will be available on showtix4u.com.

Additional Information: Show Website: https://sites.google.com/view/footloose2024/home

Instagram: Follow along for all the action leading up to opening night @ coleytown_company