‘Footloose’ : QHS musical combines high energy with strong emotion

QUINCY — It’s time to kick off those Sunday shoes and pump up the adrenaline. Quincy High School’s production of “Footloose” opens Friday at the QHS Performing Arts Center. 

“The kids are doing an awesome job keeping that energy and pace up,” Director Haliey Weber said. “There's a lot of dancing … It's very high-energy, very high-paced.” 

Big-city teen Ren McCormack (Owen Yeates) and his mother move to the small town of Bomont, where dancing and rock music are prohibited after a tragic car accident that killed four young people, including the son of Rev. Shaw Moore (Daniel Sanchez). Ren quickly befriends the awkward cowboy Willard (Juan Ferrayra) and strikes romantic sparks with Moore’s rebellious daughter Ariel (Ruby Gonzalez), and together the teens of Bomont challenge Shaw and their elders to hold a senior prom. In the process, Ren’s fight with authority forces the town – including Shaw and his wife Vi (Belle Rollins) – to come to terms with their grief. 

“Footloose” is based on the 1984 movie of the same name, and many of the songs are taken straight from that film’s soundtrack, including the title song, “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Let’s Hear it for the Boy.” In addition, numbers like “I Can’t Stand Still” and “Still Rockin’” call for some high-energy, fast-paced dance moves. 

“I think this is probably the most technically challenging (choreography) we've done,” said Assistant Director and Choreographer Elyse Goslin. “But the kids have risen to the challenge. They have really taken ownership and put in so much hard work.” 

The music is backed up by a live band, assembled from volunteer musicians in the community. The band is onstage throughout the play, rather than hidden away in an orchestra pit, adding to the rock-and-roll dynamic. The sets were a challenge, said Stage Manager Valeria Valladolid. 

“We have a little bit more than we usually have in musicals,” Valladolid said. “We have a school, we have a church, we have a diner, we have a junkyard.” 

The costumes and styles are true to the mid-1980s aesthetic of the movie, Weber said. 

“We did a lot of borrowing, a lot of thrifting,” she said. “We borrowed a lot of the prom dresses from Central Valley High School in Spokane, and a lot of set pieces from them, too. It's been fun to put together, and I think the kids are having fun trying on the different costumes and being like, ‘OK, we can't do middle parts. We have to have a side part. We have to make our hair really big.’” 

The costumes play a subtle role in the development of the characters, Weber said. 

“As the story goes on, their clothing starts to become a little more rebellious,” she said. “That was something that our costumers were really intentional about. And it's not just the teen characters; it would also be the town. You can kind of see different characters starting to change their mind about the law.” 

Behind the electric guitars and the high-energy hoofing, “Footloose” holds a more serious theme.  

“It's really a show about grief and how there's so many different colors to grief,” Weber said. “There's the anger, the sadness … There are so many angles, so many layers to grief.” 

This show has special meaning to her, Weber said, because she played the role of Willard’s girlfriend Rusty (Aliah Corona in the QHS production) in a production of “Footloose” when she was young, and her friend and co-star passed away when she was in college. 

“It's really full circle,” she said. “I never knew if I would actually direct the show, because it's very close to me, and it just reminds me of him so much.” 

“Footloose” will resonate both with teenagers and former teenagers, especially in a small town like Quincy, Weber said. 

“A lot of the stories that we follow on stage, I think you can really see yourself in them,” she said. “Everyone can find a moment in their life where they've experienced something (like the) moments between characters, especially Ren and Sha. There are some really good moments.” 

‘Footloose’ 

7 p.m. Feb. 27-28, March 5-6 

2 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 7 

Quincy High School 

Performing Arts Center 

403 Jackrabbit St. 

Tickets: bit.ly/QHSFootlooseTix  

CAST  

Ren McCormack: Owen Yeates 

Ethel McCormack: JazzLynn Padron 

Rev. Shaw Moore: Daniel Sanchez 

Vi Moore: Belle Rollins 

Ariel Moore: Ruby Gonzalez 

Willard Hewitt: Juan Ferrayra 

Rusty: Aliah Corona 

Urleen: Gabriela Vidrio Ramirez 

Wendy Jo: Aubrey Miller 

Chuck Cranston: Sawyer Golay 

Lulu Warnicker: Evelynn Jewell 

Wes Warnicker: Silas Hankins 

Coach Roger Dunbar: Lorenzo Bernal 

Eleanor Dunbar: Julianna Lambert 

Lyle: Michael Pascual 

Travis: Annalise Coyle 

A Cop: Yaikeshe Vazquez 

Betty Blast: Jasmine Vazquez Navarro 

Principal Clark: Kimberly Diaz Ceballos 

Cowgirl Bobbie: Cassandra Santillan 

Teen Ensemble: Ashley Camacho, Briana Sanchez, Esmeralda Vega Garcia, Krista Diaz 

Adult Ensemble: Alexandra Sandoval, Emily Card, Iris Salas, Nicole Spence  

TECH CREW 

Stage Manager: Valeria Valladolid Solis 

Assistant Stage Manager: Angelina Cox 

Lighting Lead: Elizabella Perez 

Scenic Art Lead: Kaylee Wise 

Props Lead: Odessa Lybbert 

Construction Lead: Jarrod Miller 

Backstage Run Crew: Khiana Zapien, Skyler Gilbert, Michael Wise, Gilberto Medina, Fernando Vidrio Ramirez 

    From left: Ariel (Ruby Gonzalez), Ren (Owen Yeates), Willard (Juan Ferrayra) and Rusty (Aliah Corona) discuss what to do next in the Quincy High School production of “Footloose,” opening Friday.
  

    Willard (Juan Ferrayra), discovers he can dance after all as Rusty (Aliah Corona), above, cheers him on with the song “Let’s Hear It For The Boy.”
  

    Vi Moore (Belle Rollins), right, sings “Can You Find It in Your Heart,” reminding her husband, Rev. Shaw Moore (Daniel Sanchez), of the father he used to be in Quincy High School’s production of “Footloose,” opening Friday.
  

    Willard (Juan Ferrayra), left, and Ren (Owen Yeates), second from left, gather in the junkyard with the boys of Bomont High School to discuss how to convince their elders to allow them a senior prom in the Quincy High School production of “Footloose,” opening Friday.