Dealing with loss and trauma can be difficult for young people, but an upcoming musical at Central Collegiate aims to prove that singing and dancing can heal many wounds.
“Footloose: The Musical,” based on the 1984 movie and screenplay by Dean Pitchford, is a coming-of-age story about growing up in a small town, building community, dealing with loss, and healing from trauma — with plenty of dancing thrown in.
The performances occur from Thursday, Nov. 16, to Saturday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. in A.E. Peacock’s Centennial Auditorium. Tickets are $15 for students and $25 for adults; they can be purchased at showtix4u.com.
The musical has real emotional depth — and plenty of humour — because the story is about a community dealing with a past traumatic event, which led the municipality to create a bylaw prohibiting dancing because that activity instigated the incident, explained teacher/director Brian Bowley.
When the main character, Ren, arrives with his mother, he can’t believe the bylaw exists because he’s grown up dancing his whole life. Audiences will learn that he is also dealing with a past tragedy.
Bowley had high praise for the cast, saying they are awesome to work with.
“We have some young kids in the show with some very serious adult emotions to handle — and they’ve been brilliant being able to do that,” he said. “I’m so proud of them for their ability to take on such mature roles. It’s been great.”
Bowley has been teaching for nine years and has led the school’s performances for the same length of time. What he likes most about directing is connecting with the students and seeing them build their confidence, creativity, social development, teamwork and leadership skills.
Students Katherine Delanoy and Presley McLeod portray characters Ariel Moore and Rusty, respectively, in the show.
Ariel is a rebellious teenager whose father is the community priest, and because the past traumatic incident changed his preaching style, she is rebelling against his messaging.
Rusty is Ariel’s best friend and can sometimes be a voice of reason and sometimes be melodramatic. She is also very peppy, energetic and a lover of life.
This is Delanoy’s second time participating in a musical, while she has performed in past plays in elementary school. She joined the high school’s theatre troupe last year because she was new and wanted to meet people.
With “Footloose,” the Grade 10 student has enjoyed the singing, while she’s had fun performing with the other students. With a chuckle, she said almost every song has dancing, and while she is not an experienced dancer, she does her best.
Learning to dance hasn’t been that bad for Delanoy since teacher/choreographer Holly McCorriston and others have been helpful during rehearsals.
This is Delanoy’s first year in a lead role, she added, and she has found it interesting — and an adjustment — to have many one-on-one scenes with other characters.
McLeod is familiar with musicals since she has performed in several each year for the past decade because she loves them. The Grade 12 student also enjoys singing and has taken voice lessons for nine years, while she has recently become more serious about dancing.
“The people that do theatre are my family, like, they’re my community. I really love them so much,” she said.
Even though she has all this singing and dancing experience, McLeod thought it was funny that the play prohibits both, which she thought was “meta” when attempting to teach high school kids how to dance.
While every show has challenges, the cast has been figuring things out together. McLeod noted that overcoming those issues has solidified their relationships; she expected everyone to remain friends after the show concluded.
“Out of all the shows I’ve done, this is one of the best written … ,” she said, adding she also thought the 1984 movie was great and relatable from many perspectives.
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