Footloose

The Eastbourne Stagers production of Footloose is an upbeat, family friendly musical, busy with energetic choreography and catchy numbers. Wednesday night’s performance renewed our love of the Eighties musical.

The opening medley of recognisable Footloose songs did its job at revving up the crowd for two hours of finger snapping songs and tricky footwork. Taking to the stage, this very large cast kicked off the show with what looked like complicated dance moves, filling the entire stage in a rainbow of skirts, sequins and smiles.

There were so many bodies in action, we were sure one of those leg kicks would make contact (they didn’t). Lead roles belted out their numbers while background performers glued on their wide eyed grins which only young actors endearingly do so well.

While the cast on stage skipped and snapped to their hearts’ content, live musicians, including guitar, clarinet and a kick ass percussion section (no pre-recorded synthesisers for this theatre troupe) accompanied from the pit. One of the most impressive features of the show was the percussionists’ precision on the wooden blocks Eighties songs so often use (Let’s Here It For the Boy).

Lead roles Ren and Ariel did a fine job of love duet Almost Paradise, while other strong songs included country hick Willard’s Mama Said and Vi and Ethel’s Learning To Be Silent.

Eastbourne’s local amateur dramatics group did an excellent job of bringing some Kevin Bacon charm to the stage. The production obviously required a phenomenal amount of preparation and it left us thoroughly impressed.

Footloose is now on at the Devonshire Park Theatre until Saturday May 15. See www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk for more details.