Footloose the Musical - 2022 U.K. Tour

Another venue added. Blackpool Opera House 19-24 September www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/events_more.asp?events_id=533&eventDate=19-9-2016&callink=2

Made my first visit to Spa Bridlington tonight (my local whilst Hull New is closed this year) to see Footloose and overall must say I was impressed!

Full of energy and a good set. Another actors musician affair and must say it worked well. Talented cast.

Fast becoming a regular to Sell a Door productions, with many visits to both the Avenue Q and American Idiot tour planned.

I will see this next week in Dartford next week, never seen this before, so looking forward to this. Love the title song, one of my all time favourite.

That was quick!
Thank you Mods.

Palace Manchester next week. £20 ticket offers for Monday and Tuesday selected seats quote MARCH

I didn't know there was a Nolan involved...

Nolan jumping ship to this tour means I now get to see Lyn Paul again in 'Blood Brothers' when I see over Easter in Torquay!!

Enjoy BurlyBeaR!

I have not seen this on stage but have listened to the USA cast recording and it's campy 80's fun! I have seen the original film on TV (I do have on DVD) but never seen it all the way through, I really enjoyed the remake a few years back (saw at cinema, have on DVD) and that is on Netflix now!

There's a £20 offer with promo code MARCH for Monday & Tuesday, via the Manchester Theatres website.

Gosh that was cheesey. And the plot, so thin.

Thin and cheesey.

It was like bingeing on mini cheddars. NOT necessarily a bad thing!

Seriously though, not really my thing but I agree the youngsters in the cast were super-talented. Several of them playing more than one instrument. And the actor/musician thing works really well in this. Gareth did a nice comic turn, if a tad OTT (least said the better about the stripping off, I was at the front and.....just no!).

I have to say though, why is that Nolan woman still getting gigs? She's spent the last 20 years pulling her cardi closed in Blood Brothers and she did exactly the same act tonight. I mean literally, a cardi continually being pulled closed but with a really bad American accent. The Nolan school of acting: always wear a cardi.  Apart from that her voice was dreadful. Completely shot. Her solo came across as utter dirge. She's the only one on stage who didn't play an instrument either. Even Gareth strummed a guitar a bit. Maureen? Nothing. Could they not have given her a tambourine to shake or  something? ANYthing? It looked odd. Maybe she can't pull her cardi closed with a percussion instrument in one hand. Poor show! 

ANYway apart from her it was ok

Cute though wasn't he? That solo dance routine he did made me laugh a bit though. 

There was lots to enjoy about this production, with some great performances from the predominantly young cast. Sell-A-Door have done a great job in delivering a show which does what it says on the tin and generally does it very well but it's not quite the perfect night out.

The majority of the cast do a fantastic job in bringing a great deal of energy, sass and attitude to the show. When I've seen previous touring productions of Footloose, Ariel has always been fairly bland in a pleasant 'girl next door' kind of way. However, Hannah Price offers a fresh, vibrant take on the role and gives a tremendously assured performance in her professional debut. Similarly, Joanna Sawyer is perfectly cast and very likeable as Rusty, nailing Let's Hear It For The Boy, breaking the fourth wall with frequent expressions to the audience and generally looking like she's having a ball.

The trio of performances which carry the show is completed with Gareth Gates. Where to start here! If you want to see Gareth with his hand down his dungarees, scantily clad in hotpants or endearingly mastering the basics of dancing, then Footloose is not to be missed! It's quite a surreal performance, heavy on gurning from the outset, but he's a good sport and I went from initially thinking "What the hell is he doing?" to warming to him by the end of the evening. Ren, played by Luke Baker, is fine - there's nothing groundbreaking about the performance but it's perfectly acceptable and carries the requisite amount of charisma.

The set is fairly limited, particularly compared to Mary Poppins which has recently departed the same theatre, but it does the job and plenty of thought has obviously gone into how the actor musicians can be accommodated into each of the scenes. Indeed, the actor musician element of the show works particularly well and definitely enhances rather than detracts from the staging.

Sadly, while the young members of the cast are consistently excellent, Nigel Lister as Rev Shaw Moore and Maureen Nolan as his wife really disappoint. Nigel Lister's vocals were so out of tune it was somewhere between painful and comical to listen to him struggling through his (thankfully limited number of) songs. Fortunately, acting-wise he was marginally better than his singing but the lack of stage presence was a poor fit for what's supposed to be the musical's intimidating figure of authority.

Meanwhile, Maureen Nolan seemed to be concentrating so hard on (unsuccessfully) mastering her accent that she forgot to invest her character with any emotion or personality. Considering she's supposed to be caught in the middle of a conflict between her husband and daughter, her flat, empty delivery of lines brought nothing to the production. Her accent seemed to change with every scene (we covered most corners of the globe during the evening). The less said about her dirgelike vocals during Can You Find It In Your Heart the better.

It's frustrating given the rest of the cast contribute so much that's admirable to the show that there are so few redeeming features from these two performances. Although the story in Footloose will always be secondary to the songs and dancing, and there's no denying that the dialogue is stilted and unduly prolonged at times after the interval, both Lister and Nolan only exacerbated these issues. Their scenes sucked the life out of proceedings every time they were on stage.

For most of Act One and the early part of Act Two, however, this is a terrific, fun evening at the theatre. The central performances of Hannah Price, Joanna Sawyer and Gareth Gates, combined with the hard-working efforts of the talented ensemble, help ensure that the majority of the show soars and easily eclipses previous touring productions of Footloose. Holding on for a Hero and Let's Hear it For The Boy are perhaps the two standout moments, brilliantly staged and performed. Gareth Gates steals the limelight in both numbers but there's lots taking place around him for those not easily distracted by the sight of gold or bad dance moves! The show does lose its way in the middle of Act Two, but recovers to finish with the iconic title track and the obligatory euphoria of an encore medley. The audience at the Palace Theatre on Friday evening needed little invitation to finish the night on their feet, cutting loose and dancing in the aisles!

Wither the Arts...that had me lol-ing. Had forgotten all about my Victoria Wood obsessed 17 year old self!