Conway High School students weren’t born when the original Footloose movie came out in 1984, but its themes of teenage angst and rebellion against authority are timeless.
The dancing doesn’t get old, either.
Footloose, the musical, will be performed by Conway High School at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, at the James H. Clark Auditorium at Conway High School. Tickets are $4 for students, through the 12th grade, and $6 for adults.
Director A.J. Spiridigliozzi, who teaches drama at Conway Junior High School, said the level of excitement for this year’s musical has been high.
“We had more kids audition for this show than we ever have before — 130 auditioned,” he said. Of those, about 100 have remained involved, he said.
In contrast to last year’s spring musical, Peter Pan, “it’s a little more contemporary,” he said of Footloose.
“I think sometimes a title will pull in different kids,” he said. “It deals with stuff they’re going through in a sense; they can relate to having thoughts and feelings and opinions different from their town and different from adults. I think they can connect with it more, and it’s just fun. You can’t beat the soundtrack.”
In the story, Ren McCormack (played by actor Kevin Bacon in the original movie) is a Chicago teenager who moves to a rural small town where dancing and rock music have been banned, primarily because of the local minister, the Rev. Shaw Moore.
The preacher and his wife, Vi, have a rebellious teenage daughter, Ariel, who starts dating Ren. Students want to have a prom, so Ren goes before the town council to ask for the ban on dancing to be lifted.
Ren is played by Joel Fountain, a sophomore at Conway High School.
“He came out of nowhere,” Spiridigliozzi said. “He’s got a great voice, and his acting is pretty natural.”
But … he’s not really a dancer, the director said. Spiridigliozzi said Fountain has practiced and is getting more comfortable with the dance moves.
Fountain said landing the part was “a dream come true.” It’s also sort of a birthday present — he will turn 16 on April 28.
He’d never seen any version of Footloose before his classmates encouraged him to audition, he said.
“I was in my algebra class, and my fellow classmates knew I was a talented singer and a talented actor, but they knew I couldn’t dance that well,” he said with a laugh.
“I knew there was going to be an ’80s kind of feel to it. Personally, I like ’80s music,” he said. “I’m enjoying every bit of it. I love to sing; I love to act.”
However, Footloose is his first performance.
“This is actually my first experience, and I’m just very blessed to be in the part I am now, very honored,” he said.
His dancing is getting better, too, Fountain said.
Mary Nail, a junior, plays Ren’s girlfriend, the rebellious daughter in the play. She went into auditions hoping for that role.
“I really wanted to be Ariel, but … you’re there to get anything you can,” she said. Nail, a junior, said she can relate to Ariel a bit.
“I mean, she’s a preacher’s daughter. … I’ve been in church all my life,” Nail said. “She’s going into adulthood, and she wants to be taken seriously. The growing-up aspect of it, I can relate to. … I’m starting to look at colleges.”
Spiridigliozzi said Nail “is a regular.” She played John — one of the brothers in the Darling family — in Peter Pan, and she was one of the “silly girls” in Beauty and the Beast, he said. Nail said she has been involved in community theater since she was 9.
She said she watched both versions of the movie Footloose — a remake was released in 2011 — and has seen “tons” of videos of the stage show.
The musical stays “pretty close to the ’80s version,” Nail said, adding that she likes the “great ’80s tunes” in the production.
“It’s been a blast,” she said. “I’ve really loved it, and all the dancing has been super fun, because this musical is just full of dancing. … It’s central to the story.”
Anna Mabrey was cast as Ariel’s best friend, Rusty.
“She’s very overly dramatic, loud, talkative,” Mabrey said of Rusty. “I’m kind of describing myself,” she said, laughing.
This is Mabrey’s first time on the stage. Last year, she was a member of the backstage choir for Peter Pan.
“I had prepared a lot for the audition,” she said.
Mabrey, a member of the Conway High School Choir, said she is comfortable singing. She has a solo, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” and sings “In Somebody’s Eyes” and “Holding Out for a Hero” with other cast members.
“I do have to dance, but I am not a dancer,” she said.
Speaking of not dancing, in the story, good-ol’ boy Willard has two left feet until Ren helps him learn some dance moves.
Willard is played by freshman Wilson Gifford, whose Southern accent fits the part, Spiridigliozzi said. “This kid is Willard. He’s as Southern as can be,” Spiridigliozzi said.
Before this musical, Gifford’s moves have been on the football field and basketball court. He took a drama class on the recommendation of friends.
“The first day I kind of walked in there and said, ‘Wow, this is new,’ because I’m all into sports and everything,” he said. “I thought, ‘Hey, I’ll just try it out.’ I love how you go all out in drama.”
Gifford said he has grown up singing along with country music but hasn’t been in the school choir or performed before now. In the musical, he sings “Mama Says.” He said the message is “how once you start something, you can’t quit it.”
“It’s a very long song,” he said. Gifford said he listened to it “over and over and over” on YouTube. He said his parents, Becky and Richard Gifford, make him sing it for them every day when he comes home from school, too.
He said he’d seen the newer Footloose movie, but Gifford said his dad insisted that he needed to watch the old one.
“Since I’m Willard, I was paying attention to how he acted … to see how dumb I should act,” Gifford said.
The Rev. Moore is played by 6-foot-4-inch sophomore Joe Coker, 16, whom some might remember as Captain Hook in Peter Pan. His height adds to the character, he said, because he can “look down on people” when the scene calls for him to be egotistical or condescending.
“When I went in, I read for Shaw Moore, because I thought if I was being looked at for a lead, it would be that,” he said.
Coker said he was surprised that the preacher, even though he’s the antagonist, “has a great deal of character depth.”
He has solos and sermons, as well as other dialogue.
Other cast members are Savannah Raup as Vi Moore, the preacher’s wife; junior Stephanie Conley and sophomore Neely Caudle play friends of Rusty’s.
The production has an “incredible team” of professionals, Spiridigliozzi said.
Music directors are Sam Huskey, Patty Oeste and Kayla White. Two University of Central Arkansas interns, brothers Blaine and Ben Hill, are assisting with the music.
The choreographer is Olivia McConkie. “She’s awesome and really, really good with the kids,” Spiridigliozzi said. Assisting in producing and acting is high school teacher Casey Griffith, “and she’s been unbelievable with the kids,” he said.
The student director is Courtney Joseph, a senior at Conway High School; the head stage manager is Connor
Lichtenwalter, a junior; and stage managers are junior Emily Brock and sophomore Avery Glover.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.