Liverpool Empire

Philip Key on Footloose at the Liverpool Empire

Mar 8 2011

Max Milner plays the film’s Kevin Bacon role of Ren, a young chap who loves to dance but finds his new town of Bomont has banned dancing after a tragic road accident.

His main anti-dancing opponent is the Reverend Moore (Steven Pinder, Brookside’s Max Farnham) and he naturally falls for the man’s lively daughter Ariel (Lorna Want).

There’s a lot of conflict along the way until matters are sorted out – with a big dance number.

Director Karen Bruce also choreographs the show so all that singing and dancing is very much to the fore, helped by a couple of hit songs including Holding Out for a Hero and Let’s Hear It for the Boy.

It’s very passable entertainment and everyone performs well with some fine vocals alongside the dance.

The main drawback is that it is so like many other shows of its kind, full of life yet rather predictable. But it gets a standing ovation and that’s what counts in the end.