If you were near an FM radio or a movie theater in 1984, then you probably know “Footloose” as a Kenny Loggins hit song or a film about a small town’s ban on all rock music and dancing that is challenged when a dance-crazed, spiky-haired high school boy moves to the rural community from big city Chicago. The feature, starring Kevin Bacon as the teenager trying to bring music and dance back to the prom, and John Lithgow as the preacher who blames rock n’ roll’s influence for the death of his first child, was turned into a stage musical that had a respectable if undistinguished Broadway run a decade ago.
This month, the Cohasset Dramatic Club takes on the stage show that moves hit songs like “Holding Out for a Hero,” Almost Paradise,” Let’s Hear it for the Boy,” and, of course, “Footloose” from soundtrack to score with a large cast of local performers in a production directed by Cohasset’s Lisa Pratt and choreographed by Caroline Maus of Quincy.
Pratt was enjoying a rare sunny afternoon outside Cohasset Town Hall Auditorium last week when she made time for a talk with Town Commons.
Town Commons: What attracted you to “Footloose?”
Lisa Pratt: We had done “Lend Me a Tenor” last fall and so we were looking for something completely different and very dynamic for our spring show. We decided that “Footloose” was the show for us, because of its strong, physical choreography and good musical base.
TC: Did a lot of fans of the film turn up to audition?
LP: We look at all kinds of actors and performers, almost all of who really wanted the opportunity to do this particular show. We have 30 people in our cast, which is big for us, and they come from Cohasset, of course, but also Hingham, Hanover, Scituate, Plymouth, Randolph, East Bridgewater, and Boston. They’re a very talented company with tremendous energy and enthusiasm.
TC: Was watching the film part of the rehearsal process?
LP: I left it open as an option, but I didn’t encourage the actors to watch the movie because it is so different from what we’re doing. In the film, of course, all the iconic 1980s music is in the background. In the show, all those great hit songs are used to move the story along and are performed in character by the cast.
