Don’t tell the reverend, but Wasatch County youth are preparing to showcase their dance moves upon a previous generation’s epitome of teen style.  The Midway Playhouse youth theater will be performing the musical “Footloose” at Midway Town Hall from Feb. 25-28 with two engagements each evening at 5 and 7:30. Directed by Kristen Hughes, the show is a youth adaptation of the 1998 Broadway musical written by Dean Pritchard and Walter Bobbie based on the 1984 movie starring Kevin Bacon that was filmed in Utah County. Tom Snow wrote the music, plus soundtrack singles from Kenny Loggins and Sammy Hagar are featured in the performance.  When holding tryouts, Hughes saw so much local talent that she decided to double-cast the show. “Boots” and “Sneakers” sections alternate lead roles between productions, and appear as dancers when they are not starring.  Matt Blood and Garrett Scott will trade performances as Ren in the Midway Playhouse’s “Footloose.” Credit: Photo courtesy of the Midway Playhouse “As I was looking at the script, I saw that it didn’t facilitate many roles and a lot of the kids would just be dancers,” Hughes said. “I decided to double-cast the lead parts so that it would give more opportunities for the kids to have acting experience as well as being part of the big dance numbers.” When Ren moves from Chicago to the fictional small town of Bomont, he attempts to repeal the municipal ban on dancing, set in place after the Rev. Shaw, the town’s moral arbiter, lost his son in a post-dance automobile crash. Garrett Scott and Matt Blood will trade off as angsty Ren, while Gwen Evans and Emersen Lyman play Ariel, the preacher’s rebellious daughter.  Youth also play the adult roles, with Daniel Thorpe and Lance Bennion alternating as the Rev. Shaw, and his wife, Vi, played by Maren Hoffman and Addie Gleason.  Adult roles generally went to the taller actors, and Hughes used her experience as an acting coach to suggest techniques including slower speech and “putting their voice down into their chests,” while asking questions that mined characters’ motivations.  “How would you feel if you were in this situation and you had a child who had been killed in a tragic way and now you see your other child doing things that could get them killed?” Hughes said. “It’s a very heavy emotional through-line for these characters. I think empathy grows when you put yourself in the shoes of another person, especially another person of another generation.” The cast is privy to some insider tips. Midway Playhouse board member Laura Wardle was a stand-in for Sarah Jessica Parker and Dianne Wiest in the 1984 production and is sharing her experience filming the movie in Utah with the actors. Marvin Rust’s set design includes a large background bridge, which denotes the site of Shaw’s son’s death, while also being a symbolic structure upon which two sides meet. Detachable staircases, rotating tables and shifting doorways make for quick scene changes between church, a cowboy bar and the burger joint, while the narrative perspective also shifts from interiority to exteriority. Directed by Kristen Hughes, the show is a youth adaptation of the 1998 Broadway musical written by Dean Pritchard and Walter Bobbie based on the 1984 movie starring Kevin Bacon that was filmed in Utah County. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Midway Playhouse “The interesting thing about this musical is it goes in and out of people’s thoughts,” Hughes said. “You’re going along in reality, then suddenly they go off into their mind and the dance number occurs, so we create this whole world of the mind for a few minutes, then you go back to the present again and the interactions with the people in the moment.” Even as “Footloose” has brought fame to Utah locations like Lehi Roller Mills, Hughes noted that Utah generally has a rich history of supporting dancing and the real-life inspiration for the town banning dancing came from Oklahoma. To this end, she has been coaching actors on Oklahoman accents with southern western twang. Regardless of location, Hughes considers the conflicts and lessons perpetually relevant over 40 years after its debut. “It’s just got a lot of truth in it as far as how the generations always clash at a certain point,” Hughes said. “I don’t want to get too deep, because it is ‘Footloose,’ but the idea is that the two can find a happy medium if they listen to each other. They can find a way to be joyful, and the youth can have the happiness and the freedom and the time of their lives and experience the good things they want to experience, and also adults can find a way to help them do that in a safe way and in a loving and supportive way instead of a controlling and fearful way.” Tickets are available at MidwayPlayhouse.org When holding tryouts, director Kristen Hughes saw so much local talent that she decided to double-cast the show. “Boots” and “Sneakers” sections alternate lead roles between productions, and appear as dancers when they are not starring.  Credit: Photo courtesy of the Midway Playhouse The post Midway Playhouse puts on ‘Footloose’ next week appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less