"Footloose" was a tight production by cast and crew

For over three months, Niwot High School’s theater department has been working hard to bring the iconic musical, “Footloose,” to life. The musical was performed April 3, 4, 10, 11 and 14 to a packed NHS auditorium.

The “Footloose” story revolves around Ren McCormack, played by Niwot sophomore Camryn Bell. and his mother, played by Alison Kraut, who relocate to the fictional town of Bomont, Utah, from Chicago. Ren is horrified to learn that all things rock music and dance, both which are engraved into his personality, are outlawed.

As he uncovers the town’s tragic past, Ren sets out to bring music, dance, and fun back to Bomont. Ren’s greatest obstacle is Reverend Shaw Moore, played by Ash Kissinger, whose personal grief laid the foundation for Bomont’s ban on dancing. Along the way, Ren finds unexpected allies in local teens, including Ariel Moore, the reverend’s daughter, played by Audrey Owen, and together, they begin to question the traditions that have long defined the town culminating in the iconic “Footloose” dance at the end.

Outstanding performances included Kennah Brackett who played Vi Moore, Prugh Dunfee who played Rusty, Miles Shaw who played Willard Hewitt, and Ollie O’Brien who played Wendy Jo.

Senior Grace DeRose took on multiple roles for the show including Cowboy Bobby, Wendy Jo’s understudy, and a featured dancer. Her favorite character is Cowboy Bobby, embodying her flirty personality and getting to sing a solo. The hardest part of playing many characters, however, was learning the variations in choreography. DeRose said, “I feel like a lot of people in this show double up on parts on top of their main role. It's definitely difficult sometimes trying to balance and remember everything, like the different formations for each character. It's hard but as long as you're dedicated and you're showing up for rehearsals, it's not too bad.”

However, after participating in eight Niwot High School productions, DeRose says that her favorite parts of any play or musical is simply the time spent with friends throughout the whole rehearsal process. Her favorite memories are spending time with the rest of the cast and crew, and she says that it's their off-stage friendships that make the play all that more real.

An interesting aspect of this musical compared to others the school has produced was the costumes. This year, students chose their costumes out of their own closets, which, DeRose says, helped many of the actors connect more with their characters enabling them to better bring their characters to life. DeRose said she also loved that it added a more modern twist to the original movie which was released in 1984.

The production stayed true to the original with the music and dance to the final song, “Footloose.” DeRose said, “That’s the song where everything finally comes together, and everyone goes out and has a blast. We all get to cut loose in a sense, and we can just dance. It's such a fun way to end the show.” “The moment of the musical that always sticks out to me the most is at the very end of the show, we finish singing ‘Everybody cut footloose!’ and hearing everything go silent for a second before the audience starts clapping. It's so sweet that we finally did it, and we finally went through this amazing show, and we got to see at the end that people enjoyed it,” she said.

The most essential part of the success of “Footloose” was the support from the directors and choreographer. These include choir teacher and Artistic and Musical Director, Laura Walters, choreographer Ashley Mouw, Pit Director and pianist Neal Dunfee, and Sound Engineer Barry Young as well as student directors, Grace Ruth, Prugh Dunfee, O’Brien, Brackett, Owen, and Olivia DeRose, who together created an outstanding performance despite the notable absence of Jason Watkins, the technical theater teacher, and drama teacher, Amanda Foust.

The technical theater students, led by Student Technical Director Marik Magginetti, built the impressive set including a large bridge across the stage used by the cast throughout the performance.

Mouw, formerly a choreographer in Los Angeles, took on the huge role choreographing the musical.

On the closing night of the performance, awards, honors and recognition were presented to cast members, faculty and the technical theater staff. Seniors were honored with personal memories and thoughts offered by cast members. Niwot High School Principal Eric Rauschkolb brought forward the technical theater staff and noted that there were as many technical theater participants as cast members who, although largely unnoticed, make everything run smoothly.