Last night we were very excited to visit the Opera House in Manchester to watch one of the coolest dance movies of all time!
Footloose centres on city boy Ren who moves with his family from the city to Bomont, a small town in middle America where rock music and dancing are outlawed by Reverend Moore (played by Darren Day) following a family tragedy. Sparks fly when the town begins to rebel and Ren meets Reverend Moore’s daughter, Ariel (played by Lucy Munden), and they fall in love
The current tour of Footloose stars Jake Quickenden as Willard Hewitt, Ren McCormack (played by Joshua Hawkins) and Darren Day as the Reverend Shaw Moore.
Quickenden is brilliant with an amazing voice, fantastic dance moves and great comedy timing. Josh Hawkins can also bust some moves and is a good actor and singer albeit not with the same power as Jake. Willard acts alongside dizzy Rusty, played by Oonagh Cox and they are a brilliant duo applauded throughout by the whole audience. Ariel, also has a great voice. Throughout the show you can't help but sing along to all the songs with the cast and they also play musical instruments such as saxophones combined with the excellent singing and dancing.
The Footloose song everyone knows is played towards the end of the show as well as other big hits and the whole audience was on its' feet dancing and singing. We left with the feel good feeling always needed after a great nostalgic production and journey back to the 80s.