Moorestown Theater Company Remakes Popular Show

Hot on the heels of its , (MTC) is going back to the well to revisit one of the most popular shows in its 10-year history.

MTC’s production of Footloose opens at 7 p.m. Thursday and runs for the next two weekends.

The theater company first performed Footloose in 2004 and producing artistic director Mark Morgan said it was an obvious choice for a repeat performance.

“If you asked anyone who’s been around all of the shows … to a person, they’ll tell you, ‘Yeah, Footloose was the most fun show we’ve done,’” he said.

The show—a story about a city boy who arrives in a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned—features a heavily teenage cast. There are 73 total cast members, including 49 teens.

“It’s their show,” Morgan said. “They’re working their butts off. They’re sweating up a storm every night. The audience will get their money’s worth from these kids entertaining them for 2.5 hours.”

Patch sat down with the four actors playing the male and female leads in both the “Black” and “Gold” casts during a rehearsal Tuesday night.
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Patch: What’s the appeal of this show, for you?

Rachel Smith, 21 (Ariel Moore, “Black” cast): It’s a really upbeat show and I think almost every number is up-tempo and I know that’s what audiences like. They like music they can bop around in their seats to and have fun with.

Brendan McHale, 15 (Ren McCormack, “Black” cast): First of all, it’s already a popular show. A lot of people already know the songs just from the 80s, and just the fact that I feel like a lot of teens are in the show, that’ll attract a lot of the audience. And it’s not like a magical play or anything fantasy, so we all can kind of relate to it. It’s your classic romance.

Kalynn Niroda, 15 (Ariel Moore, “Gold” cast): It’s just very energetic, and like Rachel said, upbeat. It’s really something that you can connect to and something that’s very fun and entertaining.

Jack Morgan, 16 (Ren McCormack, “Gold” cast): It’s a good show. Almost every number is a show-stopper ... The audience will be walking out singing all the songs.

Rachel: This show’s actually what brought me to MTC back in the day. I saw it when they did it way back in ‘04 and I thought, “Oh my gosh, it looks like so much fun.” So I did it the next year and never stopped.

Patch: This is a show that has a lot of young people in the cast. It’s a very youthful show. The music is rock and roll. Do you think that that’s going to have a lot of appeal for young audience members?

Jack: I think it will get an appeal with the younger kids, with the teenagers, because it’s a lot of teenagers (in the cast). It’s good music. But also I think it’s gonna get some adults too, because it came out when they were teenagers. So it might be one of their favorite shows, so they can probably relate and remember all these 80s things.

Patch: Has there been anything uniquely challenging about this show, or your role in this show?

Brendan: Singing and dancing together. I mean, I’ve done that before, but this is just a lot more of it.

Jack: Ren’s supposed to be this great dancer from Chicago. I’m not a great dancer or from Chicago, so both of those things are a fun aspect to try and keep getting better at. We’ve worked our butts off.

Kalynn: Ariel’s very different than myself. So she’s a fun character. She’s challenging, but she’s fun to play.

Patch: Do you guys have a favorite song in the show?

Kalynn: “I’m Free.” I’m sorry. It’s my favorite. I love it.

Jack: Yeah, “I’m Free” is very powerful. It’s a great ending for Act I.

Rachel: It’s also a very difficult number, but we all love it. And also the finale, just doing “Footloose.” It’s really fun.

Brendan: Just by listening to the soundtrack, “The Girl Gets Around” is probably my favorite … But to do, this is gonna sound selfish, but, “I Can’t Stand Still.”

Rachel: It’s hard to pick a favorite song from this show.

Patch: What are you guys doing to promote the show?

Jack: I just created a Facebook event and invited 200-some people to it.

Rachel: Every single day I have a countdown of how many days till opening night, and I was like, “OK, these are the nights to see me. But then you can see these nights too. Here’s where you can get tickets.” And then I tweet. I’m a nerd with Tumblr.

Kalynn: I’m old-fashioned with email. I have an email that I send out to everyone.

Brendan: I’m not much of a social network guy. So I just basically tell everyone. I show them the songs, and then they can never stop singing it. So then I’d be like, “OK, come see the show.”
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Footloose opens at 7 p.m. Thursday, with shows at 7 p.m. Friday, July 20, and Saturday, July 21, and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 22. There will also be 7 p.m. shows on Thursday, July 26, and Friday, July 27, as well as a 2 p.m. and a 7 p.m. show on Saturday, July 28. All the shows will be performed at .

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased through the MTC website. If you order online, you can pick your seat. Tickets will also be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

Morgan said when the theater company put on Footloose in 2004, it nearly sold out a number shows, so he recommended ordering tickets in advance.