Wednesday, August 29, 2012

But, really, what does footloose mean? And what's with the shoes?

The definition of the word footloose, according to Dictionary.com, is "free to go or travel about; not confined by responsibilities."  In case you doubt my exhaustive internet research, (which, I'll admit, consisted of one search) it's right here on this link.


According to Merriam-Webster (one more search), the definition is "having no ties: free to move about."  Here is that link.

But now that we know what the word means, here's the real question: what's the deal with the shoes?  The opening sequence from the movie has a bunch of different feet, in different style shoes, dancing.  Have you seen it?  It is pretty cool.

If you haven't seen it before, here it is:




Which pair is your favorite?  I'm pretty partial to the bowling shoes, but I do love a good pair of legwarmers.

This is one of the images that comes to mind for a lot of people when they hear the word "footloose," since it's such a specific and unique sequence.

Another image people probably think of when they hear the title of our show:


And what about this one:


And from the more recent iteration of the story, this one:


And this very famous sequence (and please nobody do this!):


These are great images.  This story is one that a lot of people know: with a song, two movies, and a musical, the title "Footloose" covers a lot of ground.

But let's all remember that this is our production of Footloose.  The story is pretty much the same as the films, but there are some differences that we'll discover in rehearsal.  And while Philip can spike his hair and wear acid-washed jeans like a young Kevin Bacon, his Ren McCormack will be different from the Ren McCormack Kevin Bacon created in the movie.  So when reading the script or working on the songs or putting together scenes in rehearsal, take a second and think about how this story, being told by this group of people (our cast and crew) at this time (today) and in this town (St. John's) is unique.  How can we make it a production and story personal to us?

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